Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Low growing perennial herb, 10-20 cm tall, from thick woody taproot; stems several to many, ascending to spreading; herbage finely puberulent.

Leaves: Bipinnately compound, on long petioles, 2-6 cm long; each leaf has 7-11 primary pinnae; each pinna has 4-10 pairs of leaflets; leaflets broadly oblong, 2-5 mm long, minutely and sparsely puberulent to glabrate.

Flowers: Yellow, in few-flowered erect to ascending racemes that surpass the leaves; flowers not quite radially symmetrical; sepals 5, linear-oblong, 5-8 mm long, pubescent; petals 5, bright yellow, 5-8 mm long, short-clawed.

Fruits: Pods flattened, oblong, and falcate (hooked at the end), often forming a semicircle, 6-7 mm wide and 2-4 cm long, puberulent with few scattered sessile glands; containing several seeds.

Ecology: Found on rocky soils from 3,000-5,000 ft ( 914-1524 m); flowers May-September.

Distribution: CO, w TX, NM, and AZ; south to MEX

Notes: This small, low perennial can be recognized by its thick woody root and caudex; bipinnate leaves with long petioles and tiny leaflets often only 2-3 mm long; bright yellow 5-petaled flowers followed by strongly curved and flattened seed pods; and finely pubescent herbage (use your hand lens). Other Hoffmannseggia spp have gland-covered stems, flowers, and/or leaves.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Hoffmanseggia is named for Johan Centurius, Count Von Hoffmansegg (1766-1849) a German botanist, while drepanocarpa is from Greek depranon for a sickle.

Synonyms: Caesalpinia drepanocarpa

Editor: SBuckley 2010, AHazelton 2017