What's this Kansas forb?

M

matto

Well-known member
I see a lot of this as I'm hunting in central Kansas pastures and CRP fields. This particular one came from Pratt County. It seems to like sandy soils. It has a rounded form that sometimes takes a tear-drop shape, like this one. Big specimens might be knee-high, small ones maybe the size of a volleyball. It seems to have a tap root. On a very unscientific basis, I've come to associate the presence of this plant with the presence of pheasants and quail.

The colors didn't come through very well in the pictures, particularly the color of the small twisted up part. Those twisted up parts seem to occur in pairs, making me think they are a split-open seed pod. But I really don't know.

Can anybody tell me what this is?
closeup.jpgintermediate.jpgwhole plant.jpg
 
I'm no expert, which is why I'm asking. But I initially thought that Patridge Pea was a possibility. I now thing that partridge pea's seed pods are significantly larger than this plant. But then maybe the other thing I see that I'm calling partridge pea, isn't, and this is.

Forgot to mention that the color of the dried, twisted seed pod is a reddish brown, almost maroon.
 
Most likely a legume of some sort, I don’t think birdsfoot but could be another trefoil. Could also be some sort of vetch. The flowers and leaves would help.
 
McFarmer said:
Most likely a legume of some sort, I don’t think birdsfoot but could be another trefoil. Could also be some sort of vetch. The flowers and leaves would help.
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I wish I had flowers and leaves. There are phone apps that would help if I had those. Maybe "prairie trefoil"?
 
How tall is it? Is that the whole plant?? My partridge pea gets chest high. Then again I'm not on sand...
 
With respect to that sample, that is the whole plant. Big specimens seem to be almost knee high.
 
Thanks for the tip about it being a different kind of trefoil. That lead me to Prairie Trefoil, which was corroborated by a friend's niece, who studies such things. https://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=425

aka "american bird's foot trefoil" (which seems to be different that regular bird's foot trefoil) and "pursh's deer vetch"

The common names of these things can be so confusing. They are so difficult to identify based on a winter sample. And there so many species that are so similar. Kind of a fun little research project, though. I learned something.
 
Common name around here is deer vetch. I've also heard it called Persch's trefoil. Excellent quail food. Grows best in wet spring years. Throws its seeds when that pod erupts. A light disking can broaden its coverage. One of the top 4 quail foods here. I believe the picture above is Crown Vetch.
 
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I plant hairy vetch as a cover crop in my garden each fall and the rabbits love it. But I don't know that the original pic is dry vetch.
 
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