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Pediomelum tenuiflorum
Also called Scurfy Pea, Slimflower Scurfpea, Few Flowered Scurf Pea
Scrufy psoralea, also called slimflower scurfpea, is a drought-tolerant perennial wildflower in the pea family, native to dry grasslands and scrub of the central and southwestern US and northern Mexico. It grows from a deep taproot, so it needs well-drained soil and little water once established.
Pediomelum tenuiflorum, the slimflower scurfpea, is a perennial in the pea family. It is about 2–3 feet (0.6–0.9 m) tall and has a lot of leaves on top. Its leaves can reach a length of 3 inches (80 mm). This flower can be found mainly in the central and southwestern U.S.
Pediomelum tenuiflorum primarily grows in the north-central United States, but its range stretches to the Rocky Mountain states, southwest into Arizona, and into northern Mexico. In the Midwest it grows in every part of Kansas, most of Missouri, and much of Nebraska. It is less commonly found in Illinois, and is only found in widely scattered areas of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota. It grows east of the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Wyoming, and largely to the east in Colorado with it also growing in a few western counties. It grows in almost all of New Mexico and Arizona, but only in the southern portion of Utah. Its range covers most of Oklahoma and many parts of Texas, but is only reported by the UDSA from three counties in Indiana, and one in Kentucky and Mississippi. In Mexico it grows in just three states; Chihuahua, Sonora, and Nuevo León.
There are many traditional uses for this plant. For example, its root is edible either raw or cooked and can also be ground up and used to thicken soups, or mixed with cereals to make bread. The plant can also be used as an ingredient in an alcoholic drink derived from Agave. In traditional medicine, it is used as a treatment for headaches, the flu, and tuberculosis. These treatments involve infusing the roots in a drink or smoking the leaves. In addition, the stems can be used to make a garland to substitute for a sun hat on hot days, and the stems have been used as a fumigant to keep mosquitoes at bay. The Zuni people apply a poultice of moistened leaves to any body part for purification.
Silverleaf Indian breadroot · California Indian breadroot · Buckroot · Beaver Indian breadroot · Largebract Indian breadroot · Palmleaf Indian breadroot · Large Indian breadroot · Subterranean Indian breadroot · Whiterim scurfpea · Indian breadroot
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pediomelum tenuiflorum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
