Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Perennial with spreading to ascending herbs, with angled stems 20-50 cm long, glabrous to minutely pubescent.

Leaves: Twice pinnately compound with 2-5 pairs of pinnae, an orbicular gland between the pinnae of the lowest pair; leaflets 2.5-4 mm long, oblong to linear, oblique at the base, acute or mucronate at the apex, ciliate when young, stipules absent or 2 mm long.

Flowers: Axillary inflorescence on peduncle 1-2 cm long, heads several to many flowered; calyx 1-2 mm long, corolla to 3 mm, with 10 showy stamens.

Fruits: Pods solitary or few, 3-7 cm long, 3 mm wide, linear or nearly so.

Ecology: Found dry slopes from 3,500-7,500 ft (1067-2286 m); flowers May-September.

Notes: Distinguished by the small gland between the lowest pinnae of the leaves that is crater-like. Very similar in appearance to Calliandra humilis, but distinguished by this gland.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Desmanthus is of uncertain provenence, while cooleyi is named for American botanist Grace Emily Cooley (1857-1916).

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley, 2010