Dalea pulchra |
Dalea mollissima |
|
---|---|---|
Santa Catalina prairie-clover |
downy dalea, silky dalea, soft prairie clover |
|
Habit | Shrubs, relatively erect, stiffly-branching, silky- or velvety-pubescent distally. | |
Stems | 5–10 dm, verruculose distally. |
0.5–3.5 dm, glandular-tuberculate. |
Inflorescences | spikes, densely flowered, obviously involucrate (proximalmost several whorls of bracts subtending rudimentary buds), 11.5–16 mm diam.; axis not visible, 0.4–0.7 cm; bracts deciduous, interfloral ones sometimes held in place by crowded flowers, 2–6.5 mm. |
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 | 0–1 cm. |
0.2–2.5(–4.5) cm. |
Stamens | 10, 7.5–9 mm, filaments distinct to 1.8–2.8 mm, anthers 0.6–0.7 mm. |
10, 4.3–5 mm, filaments distinct to 1 mm, anthers 0.4–0.5 mm. |
Corollas | bicolored, banner cream, reddish in age, epistemonous petals pink-purple; papilionaceous; banner 6–7.5 mm, blade ovate- or deltate-cordate, 2.8–4.2 × 3.4–4.4 mm; epistemonous petals attached proximal to middle of stamen tube; wings 4.1–5 × 2–2.6 mm; keel connate valvately, blades 5.2–6.8 × 3–3.5 mm. |
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 | asymmetric, recessed opposite banner, (4.5–)4.8–7.2 mm, densely pilose; tube 2.4–3.4 mm, hyaline intervals usually with row of inconspicuous blister glands between ribs (or eglandular), lobes triangular-aristate, spurred laterally near proximal end, unequal, abaxial longest. |
± 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 | 2.5–3 mm, densely pubescent distally, eglandular. |
2.4–3 mm, pilosulous distally and dotted with small glands. |
Seeds | 1.5–1.8 mm. |
1.8–2.2 mm. |
Principal | leaves 0.5–1.5 cm; leaflets 5 or 7(or 9), blades obovate to oblanceolate, 1.5–5 mm. |
leaves 2–4 cm; leaflets 9–15, blades cuneate-obovate, 3–9(–10) mm, margins undulate-crenate. |
Annual | herbs, prostrate or decumbent, ± pilose or pilosulous. |
|
2n | = 14. |
= 16. |
Dalea pulchra |
Dalea mollissima |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering early spring(–fall, winter). |
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly or rocky grasslands, open oak, juniper, or pine woodlands, desert scrub. | Sandy or rocky desert slopes, flats, roadsides. |
Elevation | 900–1400 m. (3000–4600 ft.) | 0–900 m. (0–3000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
|
AZ; CA; NV; TX; Mexico (Baja California)
|
Discussion | Plants of Dalea pulchra are attractive in flower. The spikes shatter quickly at anthesis; legumes and seeds are seldom seen. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Dalea | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Dalea |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Parosela mollissima | |
Name authority | Gentry: Madroño 10: 227, plate 14. (1950) | (Rydberg) Munz: Aliso 4: 93. (1958) |
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