Spreading 5–10 feet tall and wide (1.5–3 m) with loosely branching leafy stems, this attractive shrub is a magnet for pollinators when covered with long spikes of showy flowers. Note the compound leaves have numerous smooth leaflets along the midrib, and the elongated clusters are packed with purple flowers with extended golden stamens. Features are highly variable on the widespread plant, which is often used in native plant landscaping.

FLOWER: May–July. Dense, spike-like clusters on branch tips reach 2 1/2–8 inches long (6–20 cm); flowers tubular with 1 blue to violet banner petal 1/4 inch long (6 mm) that folds around 10 showy extended stamens with orange-yellow anthers. Fruit pod 3/16–5/16 inch long (5–7 mm) with 1–2 seeds.

LEAVES: Alternate, odd pinnately compound; blades 2 3/4–8 inches long (7–20 cm) with 9–25 (more or less) oblong leaflets, each 5/8–2 inches long (1.5–5 cm); edges entire, surfaces smooth, slightly hairy below along midvein; tip has tiny point.

HABITAT: Riparian, moist woods, slopes, canyons, drainages; grasslands, pinyon-juniper foothills, ponderosa-oak forests.

ELEVATION: 3,700–6,800 feet (1128–2073 m).

RANGE: Widespread in plains and woodlands throughout SW and east of the Rocky Mts. to the Atlantic.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Leadplant, A. canescens, (see photos below) generally smaller in size with densely hairy leaflets, occurs from grasslands to ponderosa forests in northeast and scattered central NM.

NM COUNTIES: Occasional to common in low- to mid-elevation, moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Valencia.