Psorothamnus schottii
Encyclopedia
Psorothamnus schottii is a species of flowering plant in the legume family
known by the common name Schott's dalea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert
s of northern Mexico and adjacent sections of Arizona
and the Colorado Desert
in California
.
approaching two meters in maximum height. Its highly branching stems are green to woolly gray-green and glandular. The gland-pitted linear leaves are up to 3 centimeters long and not divided into leaflets.
The inflorescence
is an open raceme
of up to 15 flowers. Each flower has a deep purple blue pealike corolla up to a centimeter long in a glandular tubular calyx of sepal
s with pointed lobes. The fruit is a legume pod coated in glands and containing one seed.
Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
known by the common name Schott's dalea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
s of northern Mexico and adjacent sections of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and the Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Description
Psorothamnus schottii is a shrubShrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
approaching two meters in maximum height. Its highly branching stems are green to woolly gray-green and glandular. The gland-pitted linear leaves are up to 3 centimeters long and not divided into leaflets.
The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is an open raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
of up to 15 flowers. Each flower has a deep purple blue pealike corolla up to a centimeter long in a glandular tubular calyx of sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s with pointed lobes. The fruit is a legume pod coated in glands and containing one seed.