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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE LEGUME FAMILY | |||||||||
| The legumes are widely used as crop
foods around the world. Some well known examples are peas (Pisum),
peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), and beans (Phaseolus). Some
legumes are planted as alternate crops to restore nitrogen to the soil with
the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots nodules. Other plants, like
the sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus), are used as ornamentals. The legumes are herbs or trees. These plants have pinnately or palmately compound leaves. Rarely, the leaves are simple. Stipules, or a pair of leaf-like structures, are found at the base of the leaf. The flowers are in various types of inflorescences in the leaf axils and at the top of the plant, or the flowers are solitary. The flowers are usually irregularly shaped with five petals: the banner, two wings and two keels. The banner is the outermost petal and is often quite large. The wings are the next outermost petals and are found on the sides. The keel is made of two petals that often appear fused to create a boat shape. The legumes usually have 10 stamens, commonly in a diadelphous, or nine plus one arrangement. The fruit types in this family include the legume, such as the pea, or the loment, which is constricted between the seeds. In some legume species, modifications such as tendrils or thorns may be observed. |
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| HAIRY PRAIRIE CLOVER | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Dalea villosa var. villosa | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Hairy prairie clover grows to 40 cm tall and is branched at the base. The stem and leaves are densely woolly or long hairy. The leaves are alternate on the stem and have between seven and 21 leaflets. The leaflets are widest at the middle and have glandular dots. The flowers are in spikes that are between 2 and 10 cm long. The flowers are purple and have densely hairy sepals. The pods are short, hairy pods. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Hairy prairie clover grows in sand dunes. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in central to southern Saskatchewan in the Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Hairy prairie clover is threatened because it is rare in Saskatchewan. This species is regionally restricted and occurs in a delicate and fragmented environment. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY HAIRY PRAIRIE CLOVER | |||||||||
| * Are the stems and leaves densely woolly or long
hairy? * Are petals purple? * Are there 7 to 21 leaflets? * Did you find it in a sand dune in southern or central Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found hairy prairie clover! | |||||||||
