Dalea leporina (Aiton) Bullock (foxtail dalea, hare’s foot dalea)

D. alopecuroides Willd.

D. lagopus (Cav.) Willd.

Parosela alopecuroides (Willd.) Rydb.

Pl. 392 e, f; Map 1730

Plants annuals, with a small, slender, yellowish orange taproot. Stems mostly 1–3, 30–70(150) cm long, erect or strongly ascending, many-branched above the midpoint, finely angled, glabrous, usually gland-dotted toward the tip. Leaves 2–10 cm long, not appearing in fascicles. Leaf blades with the rachis 20–65 mm long, lacking glands, those of the main leaves with 13–35 leaflets (sometimes as few as 9 in basal leaves). Stipules 1–3 mm long. Leaflets 3–12 mm long, 1.5–4.0 mm wide, those of the lower leaves often larger than those of the upper leaves, oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or obovate, often somewhat folded longitudinally, tapered at the base, mostly slightly notched at the tip, but sometimes with a minute, sharp extension of the midvein in the notch, the upper surface glabrous, the undersurface gland-dotted but otherwise glabrous. Inflorescences dense spikes (the axis not visible between the flowers), 2–5 cm long, ovoid to cylindric, the stalk 1–3 cm long, the axis densely short-hairy, with numerous bracts (additional sterile basal bracts absent), all but the lowermost shed early, 2.5–4.0(–7.0) mm long, 1.8–2.0 mm wide, abruptly long-tapered above a lanceolate to ovate base, green or dark purplish-tinged, at least the lowermost gland-dotted, glabrous or finely hairy, the margins lacking a conspicuous, pale band but sometimes hairy. Calyces with the tube 2.2–3.0 mm long, moderately to densely pubescent with relatively long, silky hairs, also gland-dotted, the ribs light brown to blackish purple, the lobes 1.0–2.5 mm long, lanceolate to ovate-triangular, sometimes hairy and also glandular along the margins (appearing feathery). Petals white or rarely pale bluish-tinged, the banner attached at the base of the stamen tube, the expanded portion 2.5–3.0 mm long, the wings attached along the side of the stamen tube, the expanded portion 2.5–3.0 mm long, the keel petals attached along the side of the stamen tube, the expanded portion 2–3 mm long. Stamens 9 or 10, the filament tube 5–6 mm long, the free filaments 0.6–1.0 mm long, the anthers pale blue to dark blue. Fruits more or less included in the persistent calyx, 2.5–3.0 mm long, thin and papery for most of its length, this region with an irregular transverse band of gland dots near the tip, the apical portion thicker, hairy. 2n=14. July–August.

Scattered, mostly in counties along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers (eastern [mostly northeastern] U.S. west to North Dakota and Arizona; Mexico, Central America, South America). Banks of rivers, sloughs, marshes, and bottomland prairies; also levees, borrow pits, ditches, margins of crop fields, roadsides, and open disturbed areas; often in sandy soil.