3. Wislizenia refracta Engelmann in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico. 99. 1848.
Wislizenia costellata Rose ex Greene; W. melilotoides Greene; W. refracta var. melilotoides (Greene) I. M. Johnston; W. scabrida Eastwood
Annuals, 40-200 cm. Stems glabrous or glabrate (sometimes smooth when dry). Leaves: petiole 0.2-3.1 cm; leaflets 3, green, blade ovate or obovate, (0.4-)1-4.9 × 0.4-2 cm, 1.5-4(-5.5) times as long as wide, margins entire, apex acute to rounded. Racemes 1-1.5 cm (2-3 cm in fruit). Flowers: sepals green, lanceolate, 0.4-1.7 × 0.2-0.7 mm, more than 1.75 times as long as wide, margins entire, glabrous; petals yellow, oblong, 1.4-4.6 × 0.5-1.8 mm; stamens yellow, 2-6 mm; anthers 0.5-1.7 mm; gynophore (reflexed in fruit), 2-12 mm in fruit, usually shorter than pedicel. Schizocarps 1.2-3.3 × 1 mm. Seeds 0.5 × 0.3 mm. 2n = 40.
Flowering spring-fall. Dry sandy flats, desert scrub, roadsides; 500-2400 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., N.Mex., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora).
Wislizenia refracta is known from trans-Pecos Texas, and from the Mojave Desert (San Bernardino County and Little San Bernardino Mountains in Riverside County) in California.