Pea Family (Fabaceae) Sphaerophysa salsula,Swainsonpea, Red Bladder-Vetch, Austrian Peaweed, Alkali Swainsonpea,

Found in disturbed moist areas, roadsides, ditches, alkaline soil
Seen blooming in June in Abiquiu

This is a long-lived perennial growing up to four feet tall with short white hairs on the stem and many oval leaflets. Its brick-red flowers fade to a light brown-purple when they dry. Seed pods are bladder-like and translucent, and become papery when dry. It is native to Asia but it is known in many other parts of the world as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It grows in cultivated land and disturbed habitat, easily tolerating alkaline soil. It is commonly seen in areas where alfalfa is grown, because the seeds of the two species look similar and the weed seed is easily imported with the crop seed. It also reproduces by sprouting vigorously from its creeping root system. Alkaloids in the plant may make it poisonous to livestock.  In Asia it is used as a folk medicine for treatment of hypertension.

I have added a couple of new features to the website. A while ago my niece and I published a book called "My Wildflower Friends". I decided to put it out there so that it can be shared with a kid, or anyone who is a kid at heart. Tap on 4Kids to see it. A lady called Wanda asked me if I would publish the Abiquiú Bloom Blog as a booklet. I decided that with over 100 blooms in the blog there is too much for a booklet, so I have made it easy to print the "Blooming by Month" pages using your browser's print function to make your own booklet. You can decide the way it prints. I found that a scale of 70% and "Portrait" prints a month neatly on two pages. You can print bigger images if you print at 100% in Landscape mode. I hope you find it useful.
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If you are trying to identify a different flower then you can check what other flowers bloom this month. If you cannot identify a flower from the website send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.  
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