Rupertia hallii
Encyclopedia
Rupertia hallii is a species of flowering plant in the legume family
known by the common name Hall's California tea, or Hall's rupertia. It is endemic to California
, where it is known only from a small section of the northern Sierra Nevada foothills on the border between Butte
and Tehama Counties
. It is a perennial herb approaching a meter in height with slender, leafy branches. The leaves are each made up of three lance-shaped or oval, pointed leaflets measuring up to 9 centimeters long. The inflorescence
is a clustered raceme
of several whitish or yellowish pealike flowers. Each flower has a tubular calyx of sepal
s and a corolla spreading to about a centimeter in width. The fruit is a hairy, gland-speckled legume around a centimeter long.
Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
known by the common name Hall's California tea, or Hall's rupertia. It is endemic to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where it is known only from a small section of the northern Sierra Nevada foothills on the border between Butte
Butte County, California
Butte County is a county located in the Central Valley of the US state of California, north of the state capital of Sacramento. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 220,000. The county seat is Oroville. Butte County is the "Land of Natural Wealth and Beauty."Butte County is watered by the...
and Tehama Counties
Tehama County, California
Tehama County is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. It is bisected by the Sacramento River. As of 2010 its population was 63,463, up from 56,039 as of 2000. The county seat is Red Bluff.-History:...
. It is a perennial herb approaching a meter in height with slender, leafy branches. The leaves are each made up of three lance-shaped or oval, pointed leaflets measuring up to 9 centimeters long. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a clustered raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
of several whitish or yellowish pealike flowers. Each flower has a tubular calyx of sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s and a corolla spreading to about a centimeter in width. The fruit is a hairy, gland-speckled legume around a centimeter long.