Home/Species/ Silky Prairie-clover

Dalea villosa

(Nutt.) Spreng.

Silky Prairie-clover

G5Secure Found in 2 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →

G5SecureGlobal Rank

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.133414

Element CodePDFAB1A1Q0

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVascular Plant

KingdomPlantae

PhylumAnthophyta

ClassDicotyledoneae

OrderFabales

FamilyFabaceae

GenusDalea

Other Common Names

Dalée velue (FR) hairy praire-clover (EN) silky prairie clover (EN)

Concept Reference

Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

Taxonomic Comments

This record is for the treatment of Dalea villosa in the broad sense as recognized in Kartesz (1994, 1999) including two varieties: var. grisea and var. villosa. Weakley et al. (2023) accept the varieties as distinct species, D. grisea and D. villosa.

Conservation Status

Review Date1989-05-16

Change Date1989-05-16

Range Extent Comments

Silky prairie clover is a Great Plains species known from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Wisconsin south to New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.

Ecology & Habitat

Description

Silky Prairie Clover is a perennial herb with ascending or lax, branched stems that are 20-35 cm high sometimes resembling a shrub form, and which arise from red-orange roots and a rootcrown. The alternate, pinnately compound leaves are 2-4 cm long and have 11-21 linear leaflets. The foliage has numerous sunken glands and is densely long and hairy. The pink to rose-purple flowers are densely crowded in cylindrical spikes that are 3-12 cm long, at the ends of stems and branches. Each flower is 4-6 mm long and has 4 separate petals, a densely spreading, hairy, 5-lobed, cup-shaped calyx, and 5 stamens that are usually longer than the petals. The narrowly egg-shaped pods are 2-3 mm long and densely long and hairy.

Diagnostic Characteristics

Other DALEA in Montana usually have <13 leaflets, and are not as conspicuously hairy. The compination of the long, hairy calyx and the 5 stamens further separate this species from other DALEA and from species of PSORALEA and AMORPHA.

Other Nations (2)

CanadaN2

Province	Rank	Native
Saskatchewan	S2	Yes
Manitoba	S2	Yes

United StatesNNR

Province	Rank	Native
Missouri	SNR	Yes
Wisconsin	SNR	Yes
Arkansas	SNR	Yes
Kansas	SNR	Yes
South Dakota	SNR	Yes
Louisiana	SNR	Yes
Minnesota	SNR	Yes
Nebraska	SNR	Yes
Michigan	SNR	Yes
Colorado	S3	Yes
New Mexico	SNR	Yes
Montana	S2	Yes
Wyoming	S1	Yes
Iowa	S1	Yes
Oklahoma	SNR	Yes
North Dakota	SNR	Yes
Texas	SNR	Yes

Plant Characteristics

Economic Value (Genus)No

Roadless Areas (2)

North Dakota (2)

Area	Forest	Acres
Sheyenne	Dakota Prairie Grasslands	14,537
Venlo	Dakota Prairie Grasslands	5,317

References (3)

Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist and atlas with biological attributes for the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. First edition. In: Kartesz, J.T., and C.A. Meacham. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Weakley, A.S., and Southeastern Flora Team. 2023. Flora of the southeastern United States. Edition of April 14, 2023. University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU), North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 2105 pp.