Tephrosia spicata(Walter) Torr. & A.Gray

spiked hoarypea

WFO wfo-0000182216 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Tephrosia spicata, photographed by Alan Weakley
fig. a Alan Weakley, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-28 / obs. 201378412
Tephrosia spicata, photographed by Sawyer Baran
fig. b Sawyer Baran, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201867879
Tephrosia spicata, photographed by kcthetc1
fig. c kcthetc1, CC0 1.0 / obs. 142953429
Tephrosia spicata, photographed by Leila Dasher
fig. d Leila Dasher, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 142812456
Tephrosia spicata, photographed by kcthetc1
fig. e kcthetc1, CC0 1.0 / obs. 141343575
Tephrosia spicata, photographed by kcthetc1
fig. f kcthetc1, CC0 1.0 / obs. 140753093
Tephrosia spicata, photographed by Leigha S
fig. g Leigha S, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 87066761
Tephrosia spicata, photographed by Becky Dill
fig. h Becky Dill, CC0 1.0 / obs. 42429023

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 12 botanical countries

Regions where Tephrosia spicata is native: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Cuba AlabamaGeorgiaKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMississippiNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTennesseeVirginiaCuba Delaware
Native distribution of Tephrosia spicata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Delaware DEL
Georgia GEO
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Mississippi MSI
North Carolina NCA
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Virginia VRG
Cuba CUB SOUTHERN AMERICA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 14 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cracca flexuosa A.Heller
  • Cracca spicata (Walter) Kuntze
  • Cracca spicata var. flexuosa (B.L.Rob.) Vail
  • Crafordia bracteata Raf.
  • Galega paucifolia M.A.Curtis
  • Galega spicata Walter
  • Galega villosa Michx.
  • Tephrosia hispida DC.
  • Tephrosia mollissima Bertol.
  • Tephrosia paucifolia Nutt.
  • Tephrosia spicata var. semitonsa Fernald
  • Tephrosia spicata var. spicata
  • Tephrosia villosa var. flexuosa Robinson
  • Tephrosia villosa var. flexuosa B.L.Rob.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.