. Botanical and vegetation survey of Carter County, Montana, Bureau of Land Management-administered lands . Botany; Rare plants. Dalea villosa (Nuttall) Sprengel SILKY PRAIRIE CLOVER Bean Family (Fabaceae) CONSERVATION STATUS U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: none Bureau of Land Management: Watch (USDI BLM 1996). Montana natural Heritage Program: G5 SI; demonstrably secure globally, but may be critically imperiled in Montana where it is extremely rare. DESCRIPTION: Silky prairie clover is a perennial herb with ascending, branched stems, 20-35 (50) cm (8-14 in) high, arising from red-orange root
. Botanical and vegetation survey of Carter County, Montana, Bureau of Land Management-administered lands . Botany; Rare plants. Dalea villosa (Nuttall) Sprengel SILKY PRAIRIE CLOVER Bean Family (Fabaceae) CONSERVATION STATUS U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: none Bureau of Land Management: Watch (USDI BLM 1996). Montana natural Heritage Program: G5 SI; demonstrably secure globally, but may be critically imperiled in Montana where it is extremely rare. DESCRIPTION: Silky prairie clover is a perennial herb with ascending, branched stems, 20-35 (50) cm (8-14 in) high, arising from red-orange roots and rootcrown. The alternate, pinnately compound leaves are 2-4 cm (ca. 1 in) long and have 11-21 linear leaflets. Foliage has numerous sunken glands and is densely long and hairy. Pink to rose-purple flowers are densely crowded in cylindrical spikes, 3-12 cm (1-5 in) 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-hairy. Flowering in July-August. Other Dalea species in Montana usually have 11 or more leaflets, and are not as conspicuously hairy. Its flowers form an elongate spike and its stems are more highly-branched than other species in the genus; it may superficially resemble a shrub in its growth form. The combination of long-hairy calyx and 5 stamens further separate this from other species of Dalea and species of scurfpea (Psoralea) and leadplant (Amorpha). GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION Global distribution: Midwest and Great Plains, from western Wisconsin and southern Manitoba to southern Saskatchewan and eastern Montana, south to Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado (Great Plains Flora Association 1986). Montana distribution: Carter County. Carter County distribution: Prior to 1997, one population was known from the state at Medicine Rocks State Park. Another popul
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