Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Upright perennial, slightly suffrutescent, with green glabrous and glaucous stems 15-60 cm tall with linear-subulate stipules, 2 mm long.

Leaves: Pinnate leaves 1.5-6 cm long, 15-47 leaflets, oblong to elliptic, acute to obtuse at both ends, glabrous, glandular punctate beneath.

Flowers: Dense spikes 2-10 cm long, 7-10 mm thick, ovate bracts, abruptly short-acuminate, 4-5 mm long, densely silky-villous on margins and lower part, gland-dotted on back, dark-colored; calyx campanulate, densely villous, tube 2-2.2 mm long; calyx lobes lance-subulate, pilose, 2.5-3 mm long, corolla rose or purplish, blade of banner ovate, about 1.5 mm long, claw 2.5 mm long.

Fruits: Obovate pod, densely pilose, gland-dotted.

Ecology: Found on slopes from 2,500-5,000 ft (762-1524 m); flowers April-October.

Notes: Distinguished by its purple flowers, with calyx lobes that are commonly longer than the tube, paired petals oval to elliptic, as well as the glabrous stems and leaves.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Dalea is named for Samuel Dale (1659-1739) an English physician and botanist, while pringlei is named for Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (1838-1911) an American plant collector.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley, 2010