Biorepository Data Portal

Kearney and Peebles 1961, Correll and Johnston 1970, Allred and Ivey 2012, Martin and Hutchins 1980

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herb, about 10 cm tall, from a thick woody caudex; stems numerous, ascending, covered with silky hairs. Leaves: Alternate and palmately 3-foliate, on petioles 1-2 cm long; leaflets obovate or wedge-shaped, 8-15 mm long, densely silky-canescent on both sides. Flowers: Yellow and fading to red or purplish, in dense spikes, 2-6 cm long at branch tips, each flower subtended by a purple-tinged ovate bract with a long-tapering tip; flowers 1-2 cm 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 yellow when fresh and fading to purplish or red-brown as they dry; sepals 5, abundantly silky-hirsute, united at the base into a tube 3 mm long, this topped with 5 narrow plumose teeth which are longer than the tube. Fruits: Pod villous, small and contained within the persistent hairy calyx; containing 1 or 2 seeds. Ecology: Found on dry hills, juniper plains, desertscrub, rocky slopes, and grasslands, from 5,000-6,500 ft (1524-1981 m); flowers April-July. Distribution: KS and CO to s AZ, NM, w TX, and n MEX. Notes: This low-growing herbaceous Dalea is widespread in New Mexico and relatively uncommon elsewhere. Look for the clover-like leaves, each consisting of 3 oblong or wedge-shaped leaflets which are covered with long silky hairs and don't have any glands; the dense spikes of hairy flowers, each flower usually with a purple bract just below it; and the flowers with yellow petals which fade to brick-red or purple when they dry. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Dalea is named for Samuel Dale (1659-1739) an English physician and botanist; jamesii honors Edwin P. James (1797-1861), an American naturalist and botanical explorer in the Rocky Mountains. Editor: AHazelton 2017