Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Perennial herb, 20-70 cm tall, from a root crown and stout taproot; stems erect or ascending, glabrous below the inflorescence, gland-dotted.

Leaves: Alternate and pinnately compund, 1-6 cm long, with 7-9 leaflets per leaf; leaflets 2 cm long and 1-4 mm wide, linear-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, gland dotted.

Flowers: White to pale pink, in dense elongate spikes, 3-12 cm long, at branch tips; flowers about 5 mm long, with 5 white petals (rarely pale pink) which are early-withering and not in an obviously papilionaceous arrangement; sepals 5, densely pilose, united at the base into a tube 2 mm long, this topped with 5 triangular teeth.

Fruits: Pods small and contained within the persistent hairy calyx; containing 1-2 seeds.

Ecology: Found on sand dunes, in drainages, in pinyon-juniper woodlands and on sandy plains with sand sagebrush and Indian ricegrass, from 5,000-7,000 ft (1524-2134 m); flowers June-September.

Distribution: s AZ to TX, north through NM and CO to WY

Notes: This white-flowered perennial Dalea is distinguished from other similar species by its long, dense spike of flowers with abundantly hairy calyxes and early-deciduous petals. It is a relatively uncommon species, found occasionally in sandy disturbed habitats. Similar to D. candida but that species has mostly glabrous flowers. Look for this species in the genus Petalostemon in older texts.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Dalea is named after Samuel Dale (1659-1739), an English physician and botanist; cylindriceps refers to the flower spikes being cylinder-shaped.

Editor: AHazelton 2017