Dalea emarginata
Dalea nana
wedgeleaf prairie clover
dwarf dalea, dwarf prairie-clover
(1.5–)2–6 dm, with scattered, small, raised glands distally.
(0.5–)1–3.5 dm, nearly eglandular.
spikes, densely flowered, inconspicuously involucrate (lowest bracts not subtending flowers), 8.5–10.5(–11) mm diam.;
axis not visible, 1–4(–4.5) cm;
bracts persistent through anthesis, 1–2.5 mm.
spikes, densely to loosely flowered, not involucrate, 7–13(–15) mm diam.;
axis not to partially visible, 0.5–4(–5) cm;
bracts deciduous at anthesis or later, 2.5–5.5 mm.
(6–)10–35(–40) cm.
0–3.5 cm.
5, sometimes with vestiges of alternate filaments, 3.8–4.6 mm, filaments distinct to 0.9–1.2 mm, anthers 0.5 mm.
10, (6–)6.4–10 mm, filaments distinct to 1.1–2.3 mm, anthers 0.4–0.7 mm.
magenta-purple;
not conventionally papilionaceous;
banner 3.8–4.4 mm, blade ovate, 1.8 × 1.2 mm; epistemonous petals attached at or abaxial pair just proximal to filament separation, blades 1.6–2 × 0.5–0.9 mm.
clear yellow, purplish or brownish in age; papilionaceous;
banner (4–)4.4–5.5 mm, blade suborbiculate-cordate to reniform, 1.5–3.2 × (1.5–)2–3.6 mm; epistemonous petals attached near or distal to middle of stamen tube;
wings 2.1–3.7 × 0.9–1.8 mm;
keel connate valvately, blades 2.9–4.8 × 1.6–2.8 mm.
asymmetric, recessed opposite banner, 3–4.2 mm, densely pilosulous;
tube 1.8–2.2 mm, with 4–7 blister glands between ribs, lobes ovate.
subsymmetric, 4.5–6.5(–7.5) mm, densely pilose;
tube 1.9–2.7 mm, with 3 or 4 small glands between ribs, lobes triangular-aristate, becoming plumose.
2.4–2.8 mm, pilosulous distally and gland-dotted.
2.5–3 mm, distally with 2 rows of ascending hairs on either side of a glabrescent row, eglandular.
1.6–1.9 mm.
1.8–2.2 mm.
herbs (sometimes overwintering), erect, ± glabrous proximal to inflorescence.
leaves (1–)1.5–3.5 cm;
leaflets (5–)11–17, blades oblong-oblanceolate or obovate, 4–9 mm.
leaves 1–2.5(–3) cm;
leaflets (3 or)5(or 7), blades obovate to olanceolate, 3–15 mm, surfaces inconspicuously glandular-punctate abaxially.
herbs, prostrate, diffusely spreading, or erect, silky-pilosulous.
Dalea emarginata
Dalea nana
Dalea emarginata was first described under Petalostemon but was rejected from that genus by D. K. Wemple (1970) because of its annual habit. R. C. Barneby (1977c) considered it to be taxonomically isolated within Dalea. Adaxial surfaces of the leaflets often become a remarkable blue-green in drying, a trait observed also in several other daleas that were placed in Petalostemon and in the evidently distantly related yellow-petaled D. nana. In Texas, D. emarginata is known from the southern half of the state, east of the Big Bend region.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Dalea nana shows extensive variability in a number of features, including habit, height, and bract shape.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Bracts 2–4 mm wide; spikes loosely flowered, axis partially visible. | var. nana |
1. Bracts 1.2–2 mm wide; spikes densely flowered, axis not visible. | var. carnescens |
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