General: Soft Prairie Clover (Dalea mollissima) is a prostrate desert annual forb with leaves divided into leaflets. The leaflet usually have small, dark spots, and the margins are wavy. The pea-type flowers are white with feathery structures (calyx lobes) that extend as far or beyond the tips of the flower petals.

Another species of Prairie Clover, Hairy Prairie Clover (Dalea mollis) looks similar except that the leaf margins are not wavy, and the feathery structures (calyx lobes) do not extend to the tips of the flower petals.

Hairy Prairie Clover is a common component of vegetation communities on desert flats and on bajadas in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Family: Fabaceae (Legume).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Annual herb, spreading.

Height: To a few inches.

Stems: Becoming reddish and red-gland dotted.

Leaves: Leaves are odd-pinnate (one leaflet at the tip) with 8-14 leaflets, each 3-10 mm long. Leaflets generally folded, and the margins are shallowly lobed or wavy. Leaves usually with small, dark spots.

Flowers: Blooms in spring; also during fall when conditions are right.

Seeds:

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy and gravelly soils on bajadas and moderate slopes.

Elevation: Less than 3,000 ft.

Distribution: California to southwestern Utah and western Arizona, and south into northern Mexico.

Comments: