Dalea mollis

{{Short description|Species of legume}} {{Speciesbox |image = |genus = Dalea |species = mollis |authority = Benth. }}

'''''Dalea mollis''''' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family which is known by the common name '''hairy prairie clover'''.

==Distribution== This wildflower is native to the deserts of California, Arizona, and Northwestern Mexico.

It is a common member of the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert ecoregions. It forms a small, flat patches on the gravelly desert floor and on slopes and weedy roadsides.

==Description== ''Dalea mollis'' is a small cloverlike mat-forming annual legume with gland-dotted foliage covered thickly in long white hairs. The leaves are made up of several pairs of small, folded, oval-shaped leaflets each about a centimeter long. The plant flowers in pea-like blooms just under a centimeter wide which may be lavender, yellow, or white, sometimes bicolored. The fruit is a small, single-seeded legume pod.

==External links== *[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?3691,3900,3901 Jepson Manual Treatment] *[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DAMO USDA Plants Profile] *[http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Dalea+mollis Photo gallery]

mollis Category:Flora of Northwestern Mexico Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States Category:Flora of the California desert regions Category:Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Category:Natural history of the Colorado Desert Category:Natural history of the Mojave Desert Category:Taxa named by George Bentham Category:Plants described in 1848 Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status