Prostrate, spreading stems 7–28 inches long sprawl across dunes and grasslands in dense clusters with tall spikes of pink to purple flowers. The plant is common and endemic to the middle Rio Grande basin, but listed on the NM Rare Plant List due to its limited range. Note the bright-green, hairless foliage and resinous odor.

FLOWERS: June–September. Pink to purple, pea-like with 5 petals, 5 stamens; flowers on spike bloom from the bottom up and often cover most of spike, the vase-like base (calyx) of the flowers are dotted with glands but have no hair. The fruit, a rounded pod 1/8-inch (3–4 mm) long and gland-dotted, matures green to pink in a dense spike.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blade compound, odd-pinnate with 5–11 leaflets, bright green, smooth, with broad, rounded tips; leaflets 1/8–3/8 inch long (3–8 mm), hairless, gland dotted.

HABITAT: Deep sand, gravelly soils, dunes, bluffs, roadsides; desert scrub, pinyon-juniper grassland; only in the middle Rio Grande Valley.

ELEVATION: 4,750–6,300 feet.

RANGE: Middle Rio Grande basin in NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Flower color, 5 stamens, smooth, bright-green leaves, and the spreading stems help distinguish this from the 25+ prairie-clovers in NM. Purple Prairie-Clover, D. purpurea, widespread, has erect stems and flowers with 5 stamens and a densely packed, hairy spike. Woolly Prairie-Clover, D. lanata, has similar flowers, but with 10 stamens.

NM COUNTIES: Central NM Rio Grande basin: Bernalillo, Sandoval, Socorro, Valencia.