Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Glandular-punctate herbs, generally low-growing, erect 10-25 cm tall, glabrous below the inflorescence.

Leaves: Narrowly lanceolate to oblong elliptic, odd-pinnate leaves, leaflets 3-11 in number, 4-10 mm long, well-spaced throughout the branches as well as on the rachis.

Flowers: Very small, borne in oblong, elongate spikes, 6-8 mm wide, the corollas white or purplish, with bracts ovate to obovate and short, acuminate tips, ciliate or glabrous on the margins, calyx lobes as long or longer than the tubes, moderately plumose, petals leaving scars when they fall.

Fruits: Small, indehiscent pods that are obliquely ovoid and villous.

Ecology: Found in pine forests and grasslands, from 5,500-9,000 ft (1676-2743 m); flowering August-October.

Notes: This species is one of those generally less hairy than the other Dalea, especially around the inflorescence. The keys to this species are oblong spikes, purple flowers, and the narrowly elliptic, 3-11 leaflets, as well as the moderately hairy inflorescences.

Ethnobotany: There is no specific use of this species, but the genus was used for food.

Synonyms: Dalea polygonoides var. anomala

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011

Etymology: Dalea is named after Samuel Dale (1659-1739), an English physician, botanist and botanical collector, and gardener who was the author of several botanical works and a treatise on medicinal plants, while polygonoides means like genus Polygonum, and polygonum means derived from the Greek words polys, "many," and gonu, "knee or joint.-