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 Plant Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial
General Desc:
Low growing in small tufts of many short stems, leaves are compound, stems and leaves covered with long silky hairs; old leaf bases are persistent; flowers with a conspicuous banner petal in contrast to the reduced keel and wing petals.
Identification notes: Plants short stemmed; flowers distinctive, large purple to white banner petals, wing and keel petals much reduced, usually vibrant purple; leaves and stems very hairy, hairs not attached at the middle, leaflets 3 to 9; fruit pods shaggy haired.
Height:
2 to 6 inches
Habitat Description: Found in rocky areas on mesas, most common in pinyon juniper woodlands.
Plant Communities:
Pinyon Juniper Woodland
Elevation: 4500 - 7500 feet
Color:
Pink, purple, white
Shape:
Irregular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Mar - Apr
Description:
Bilateral, arranged on short stalks along a central stem, 3 to 8 flowered, banner petals are conspicuous, 3/4 to 1-1/4 inches long and 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, much larger than the wing and keel petals.
Leaf Color:
Greenish-gray
Leaf Type:
Compound
Leaf Shape:
Round or oval
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Basal and alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Leaves 3/4 to 5 inches long, 3 to 15 leaflets, 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, with acute to blunt tips sometimes notched; plant without stems (acaulescent) or short-stemmed; leaves and stems are covered with long silky, partly spreading hairs.
Fruit Type: Pod
Fruit Notes: Spreading (almost horizontal), sessile (attached directly to the stems), ovate and inflated legumes, 1/2 to 1-1/4 inches long and 1/4 to 12 inches wide, each end tapering to a point, 1 chamber, surfaces densely woolly. White hairs 1/16 to 1/4 inch long.
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