Nevada dalea facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Nevada dalea |
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P. polydenius
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| Psorothamnus polydenius (Torr. ex S.Watson) Rydb.
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Psorothamnus polydenius is a type of flowering plant that belongs to the legume family. You might know it better by its common names: Nevada dalea or Nevada indigobush. This plant naturally grows in the deserts of the southwestern United States. You can find it from the Mojave Desert in California all the way to Utah.
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What is Nevada Dalea?
Nevada dalea is a shrub, which means it's a woody plant smaller than a tree. It can sometimes grow taller than one meter, which is about three feet. It has many branches that get thinner towards the ends, forming small twigs.
How it Looks Up Close
The stems and twigs of the Nevada dalea are covered in soft, rough, or silky hairs. They also have tiny glands that you can see. These glands help the plant in different ways, like protecting it or storing special substances.
Leaves and Flowers
The leaves of this plant are quite small. Each leaf is made up of a few pairs of tiny leaflets. These leaflets are usually oval or rounded and are only a few millimeters long.
The flowers grow in a tight cluster called an inflorescence. This cluster looks like a dense spike or a raceme, which is a type of flower arrangement where flowers grow along a central stem. Each flower has a pretty pinkish-purple, pea-like part called a corolla. This corolla is about half a centimeter long.
Fruit and Seeds
The flowers are surrounded by a calyx, which is made of sepals. These sepals are pointed and also have glands on them. After the flower blooms, it produces a small legume pod. This pod is the fruit of the plant and usually holds just one seed inside.
Special Varieties
There is one special type of this plant called Psorothamnus polydenius var. jonesii. This variety is endemic to Utah. This means it only grows naturally in Utah and nowhere else in the world!
See also
In Spanish: Psorothamnus polydenius para niños
