Silky hairs cover the 4-inch tall, upright stems with long dense, hairy spikes with small yellow flowers. Note the pinnately compound leaves with 5–7 leaflets have pointed tips and are covered with silky hairs.

FLOWER: May–October. Dense hairy spikes reach 7/8–3 3/8 inches long (2–6 cm) with yellow, pea-like flowers 5/8 inch long (15 mm). Flowers have 5 petals: 1 upper banner, 2 spreading  side wings, 2 petals united into the keel that holds the stamens and pistil. The calyx (sepals) are densely hairy. Fruit is a hairy pod with 1–2 seeds.

LEAVES: Alternate. Leaves pinnately compound with 5–7 small leaflets along midrib. Leaflets elliptic to oval, 3/16–5/8 inch long (5–15 mm); tips pointed, surfaces silvery-green with silky hairs on both sides, no glands present; margins smooth.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils; canyons, rocky slopes, foothills, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-alligator juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,400–5,300 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The prostrate Downy Prairie-Clover, D. neomexicana, in southern NM, has whitish flowers, and 7–11 oval, densely-hairy leaflets with slightly scallop-toothed margins and rounded tips. James Prairie-Clover, D. jamesii, has 3 leaflets.

NM COUNTIES: Southern 1/2 of NM in low-elevation, dry habitats: Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Sierra, Socorro.