White Prairie Clover, Dalea candida, Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	White Prairie Clover	Dalea candida Michx. ex Willd	Pea	Upland	Early to Late Summer
Other names and notes	Slender, erect stems, leaves pinnately compound with an odd number of narrow leaflets (usually 5 to 9), leaves and stem hairless, leaves slightly wider than Purple Prairie Clover, D. purpurea; stems are usually single with a few branches near the top. The plant is usually under 2 feet tall but can be up to 3 feet, and similar in appearance to the slightly smaller Purple Prairie Clover, D. purpurea. The flower is an inflorescence from the bottom upward on a dense spike with small 1/4" white 5-part flowers. With a taproot, it is drought tolerant and as a member of the pea family, it fixes nitrogen in the soil. Some books list the genus as Petalostemum, however, USDA has adopted the newer classification to the genus Dalea, named for Samuel Dale, (1659-1739), an English botanist and botanical collector and author of several botanical books. The species name candida is for "shining" or "pure white".


Above and right: Blooms of mid-July. Below: Leaf structure of the pinnately compound leaves.



Above and right: Note the progression of the flowers from the bottom toward the top as bloom time progresses. The flowers are so densely packed that the 5 parts are difficult to discern.

Notes: This plant was first introduced to the Garden by Eloise Butler on July 12, 1910 with plants she obtained from the grounds of the Agricultural College in St. Paul. Eloise Butler catalogued this species in 1912 in her index file of plants in the early Garden, listing is with the older genus name of Petalostemum; in like manner Martha Crone catalogued it on her 1951 census of plants in the Garden. It is native to Minnesota to all but a handful of counties in the SE and also absent in most counties of the NE Quadrant of the state. It has wide native distribution in the United States ranging from the Basin and Range area of the west to the Appalachians in the east. It is most abundant in the uplands of the true prairie. Special Concern: In the wild it is listed on the Minnesota DNR's Special Concern List. It is considered "endangered" in Tennessee. The plant is attractive to butterflies and bees, a tea can be made from the taproot that is said to reduce fever. On grazeland is a palatable and nutritious forb.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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