Lanceleaf Scurfpea
Orbexilum onobrychis
Found in calcareous or mafic woodlands and barrens, prairies. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia (estimated). How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 76%
- Height
- Up to about 3 feet 4 inches
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Fruiting season
- August to October
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves · Bloom
Bloom: NC species account not read yet.
Spread and leaves: no source found yet.
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
County records are not available.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock
Open, thin-soil openings, outcrops and cliffs on dark, magnesium- or iron-rich rock such as serpentine, diabase or gabbro.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Who uses this plant?
1CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Orbexilum
- Cyclophora pendulinariaSweetfern Geometer
2BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Orbexilum
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Psoralea
- Perdix perdixGray Partridge
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Flies 4
- Anthrax sinuosa
- Bombylius atriceps
- Exoprosopa fasciata
- Physocephala tibialis
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Adult butterflies / moths 4
- Hemaris thysbe
- Pontia protodice
- Schinia jaguarina
- Thanaos juvenalis
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 6
- Leionotus arvensis
- Leionotus dorsalis
- Priononyx atrata
- Priononyx thomae
- Pterochilus 5-fasciatus
- Sphex gracilis
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Flower color
- Purple or violet
- Fruit begins
- August
- Fruit ends
- October
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Flower color · “Purple or violet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Fruit begins · “August” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Height · “Up to about 3 feet 4 inches” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- primary_flower_color · “purple” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Lance Leaf French Grass; Psoralea onobrychis
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications