Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Perennial herb from a woody root crown; stems more or less prostrate, 30-60 cm long, densely and shortly villous-tomentose, sparsely glandular.
Leaves: Alternate and pinnately compound, 1-3 cm long, with 5-17 leaflets per leaf; leaflets 1-10 mm long and 1-5 mm wide, obovate to wedge-shaped, usually densely short-villous and glandular.
Flowers: Purplish, in elongate spikes, 2-7 cm long, at branch tips, each flower subtended by by a green, hairy, gland-covered bract; flowers about 6-7 mm long, with pea-flower morphology (papilionaceous), with a wide upper petal called the banner, two smaller lateral petals called the wings, and a boat-shaped lower petal called the keel which contains the style and stamens. Petals indigo to rose-pink; sepals 5, united at the base into a tube 2-3 mm long, this topped with 5 teeth, 1-2 mm long.
Fruits: Pod finely villous, small and contained within the persistent calyx; containing 1 or 2 seeds.
Ecology: Found on stabilized sand dunes and other sandy sites, from 2,000-6,500 ft (610-1981 m); flowers May-October.
Distribution: UT to KS, south to AZ, NM, TX, and n MEX.
Notes: This herbaceous perennial Dalea is distinguished by its growth form of multiple lax, disorderly, more or less prostrate stems; stems and leaves with a dense covering of short hairs as well as dark colored glands (use your hand lens); cylindric-shaped spikes, less than 1 cm wide, of purple flowers. The spikes are slightly elongate so that the center stalk of the spike is sometimes visible. Within the spike, each flower has its own hairy, glandular bract the same color as the leaves but ovate with a pointed tip. There are 2 varieties of the species, which have at times been treated as separate species: var. lanata is a Great Plains taxon found in Texas and eatern New Mexico, with hairy calyx tubes. Var. terminalis is found in Arizona and western New Mexico, and has glabrous calyx tubes that sometimes have hairy teeth at the top.
Ethnobotany: A poultice of the plant was applied to centipede bites; Hopi children ate the sweet root as candy.
Etymology: Dalea is named for Samuel Dale (1659-1739) an English physician and botanist; lanata means lanate, or densely woolly.
Editor: AHazelton 2017
