The numerous erect, 8–36-inch tall stems from a woody crown are topped with a dense, hairy, cylindrical spike of small, rose-purple flowers. Note the flowers bloom in a ring from the bottom up. Stems vary from hairless to woolly.

FLOWERS: June–September. Oblong to cylindrical spike 5/8–2 1/2-inches long (15–70 mm) densely packed with short, silky hairs. Flowers pea-like, bilaterally-symmetrical with 5 petals 1/8-inch long (3 mm), 1 upper banner petal, 2 side wing petals, 2 united keel petals; 5 stamens with showy golden-orange anthers.

LEAVES: Alternate. Odd pinnately compound, 1 1/8–2 inches long (3–5 cm) with 3–7 leaflets along midrib; each leaflet linear, 3/8–3/4-inch long (8–20 mm). Often smaller leaves grow in the leaf axils.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, drainages, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,200–7,600 feet.

RANGE: CO, KS, NM, OK, TX; widespread in prairie states from Mississippi River through the Rocky Mountains.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Slim-leaf Prairie-Clover, D. tenuifolia, in the ne quarter of NM, has 3–5 leaflets and a loosely-flowered spike; Silky Prairie-Clover, D. villosa, in the eastern border counties, has densely hairy stems and 9–17 leaflets.

NM COUNTIES: Eastern prairies and scattered elsewhere in NM in mid-elevation, grassy habitats: Bernalillo, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Quay, Roosevelt, Torrance, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Union, Valencia.