Dalea purpurea
 
Purple Prairie-Clover

Bract Bottom

Oro Lake Regional Park
16-July-2010

Purpureum: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species. 

plants glabrous or sparsely pubescent; NOT [plants densely hairy throughout]

leaflets 3-5; NOT [leaflets 5-9], NOT [leaflets 7-17]

leaflets narrowly linear; NOT [leaflets linear-oblong]

leaflets 1-1.5 mm wide; NOT [leaflets 2-3 mm wide]

calyx villose-tomentose; NOT [calyx glabrous except the lobes]

flowers rose or purple; NOT [flowers white]

 

Petalostemon: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus.  

herbs; NOT [shrubs]

the root tuber-like

plants not climbing

leaves pinnately divided; NOT [leaves palmately divided]

the terminal leaflet normal; NOT [the terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril]

leaves glandular-dotted

flowers in dense, cylindrical spikes; NOT [flowers in racemes]

flowers small, to 5mm; NOT [flowers 10-15 mm long]

keel not truncate; NOT [keel mostly truncate]

stamens 5; NOT [stamens 10]

pods not segmented or jointed; NOT [pods segmented or jointed, breaking up at maturity]

pods not prickly; NOT [pods with hooked prickles]

 

Leguminosae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 

herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic; leaves submerged or floating]

plants NOT with colored milky juice

plants with more than one normal leaf

some or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]

leaves with stipules; NOT [leaves without stipules, or having glands]

flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others]

calyx regular; NOT [calyx irregular, some sepals smaller than others]

flowers irregular in shape

corolla pea-like; NOT [corolla with one petal spurred or sac-like]

stamens usually separate or partly so, not in a column; NOT [stamens numerous, united into a column]

fruit a legume; NOT [fruit a 3-valved capsule]