Flora of North America species comparison

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Dalea mollissima

downy dalea, silky dalea, soft prairie clover
Stems

0.5–3.5 dm, glandular-tuberculate.
Inflorescences

racemes, spikelike, densely flowered, not involucrate, (12–)13–16(–17) mm diam.;

axis not visible, 1.5–7.5 cm;

bracts deciduous, 4.5–7 mm.
Peduncles

0.2–2.5(–4.5) cm.
Stamens

10, 4.3–5 mm, filaments distinct to 1 mm, anthers 0.4–0.5 mm.
Corollas

whitish, banner sometimes lilac-tinged, keel tip sometimes lilac-tinged; papilionaceous;

banner 2.8–3.7 mm, blade broadly triangular to suborbiculate-cordate, (1.6–)1.8–2.2 × (1.4–)1.7–2.2 mm; epistemonous petals attached proximal to middle of stamen tube;

wings 1.8–2.1 × 1.1–1.3 mm;

keel detaching from stamen column after anthesis, connate by overlapping margins, blades 2.6–2.9 × 1.5–1.8 mm.
Calyces

± symmetric, (5.8–)6.1–8.2 mm, pilose;

tube (2.5–)2.7–3.3 mm, with (3 or)4–7 glands between ribs, lobes triangular or triangular-aristate.
Legumes

2.4–3 mm, pilosulous distally and dotted with small glands.
Seeds

1.8–2.2 mm.
Annual

herbs, prostrate or decumbent, ± pilose or pilosulous.
Principal

leaves 2–4 cm;

leaflets 9–15, blades cuneate-obovate, 3–9(–10) mm, margins undulate-crenate.
2n

= 16.

Dalea mollissima
Phenology Flowering early spring(–fall, winter).
Habitat Sandy or rocky desert slopes, flats, roadsides.
Elevation 0–900 m. (0–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; TX; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Although Dalea mollissima normally blooms early in the spring, with adequate summer moisture it germinates in fall and winters over, so that individual plants can be large and may be mistaken as perennial. It resembles D. mollis, with which it overlaps in range, and may be collected with that species. Cuneate-obovate and undulate-margined leaves of D. mollissima resemble those of D. neomexicana, leading to further confusion among herbarium specimens. In California, D. mollissima is known only from the desert regions in the southeastern part of the state.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Dalea
Sibling taxa
D. albiflora, D. aurea, D. bartonii, D. bicolor, D. brachystachys, D. cahaba, D. candida, D. carnea, D. carthagenensis, D. compacta, D. cylindriceps, D. emarginata, D. enneandra, D. exigua, D. exserta, D. feayi, D. filiformis, D. flavescens, D. foliosa, D. formosa, D. frutescens, D. gattingeri, D. grayi, D. greggii, D. hallii, D. jamesii, D. lachnostachys, D. lanata, D. laniceps, D. lasiathera, D. leporina, D. lumholtzii, D. mollis, D. multiflora, D. nana, D. neomexicana, D. obovata, D. ornata, D. phleoides, D. pinnata, D. pogonathera, D. polygonoides, D. pringlei, D. pulchra, D. purpurea, D. reverchonii, D. sabinalis, D. scandens, D. scariosa, D. searlsiae, D. tentaculoides, D. tenuifolia, D. tenuis, D. urceolata, D. versicolor, D. villosa, D. wrightii
Synonyms Parosela mollissima
Name authority (Rydberg) Munz: Aliso 4: 93. (1958)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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