Synonym: Petalostemon multiflorus Nutt.

Description: Stems glabrous; mature leaf rachises 5-15(-25) mm long, bearing (5-)7-13 leaflets; inflorescence compact, not elongating in fruit; calyx ciliate on margins, 10-ribbed; petals white.

Distribution: Eastern half of Kansas and adjacent Missouri to the Gulf Coast region of Texas and northeastern Coahuila (Wemple 1970, map 5; Barneby 1977)

Plants Seen or Cited: None from New Mexico; UNM has one specimen from Texas.

Habitat: Relatively dry rocky prairies (Wemple 1970); prairies and stony hillsides, in great variety of xeric microhabitats, in acid sands, rich clays, and calcareous gravels, near sea-level to ca. 660 m (Barneby 1977).

Comments: Neither Barneby (1977) nor Wemple (1970) indicate the plant to extend into the Rocky Mountain states. Barneby notes the species [as Dalea multiflora (Nutt.) Shinners] to be closely related to P. candidum (Michx.) [but as D. candida (Michx.) Willd.], and both authors mention the occurence occasional intermediate plants where the two species are sympatric in Oklahoma. Barneby notes the P. multiflorum to be widespread and locally common. Neither Correll and Johnston (1970), Martin and Hutchins (1980), nor Roalson and Allred (1996) record the species for New Mexico. Possibly the species entered onto one of many independently compiled lists of rare or sensitive species for various management areas by misidentification of P. candidum, which P. multiflorum resembles before inflorescences elongate in P. candidum.

Status: Not known in New Mexico.

Important Literature:

Barneby, R.C. 1977. Daleae Imagines. Mem. N.Y. Bot. Gard. 27:1-892.

Martin, W.C., and C.R. Hutchins. 1980. A Flora of New Mexico, vol. 1. J. Cramer, Vaduz. Pp. 1-1276.

Roalson, E.H., and K.W. Allred. 1996. Interim Draft Copy of A Working Index of New Mexico Plant Names. Range Science Herbarium, NMSU. Las Cruces. 245 pp.

Wemple, D.K. 1970. Revision of the genus Petalostemon. Iowa State Jour. Sci. 45(1): 1-102 + 12 figs., 15 maps.

Information Compiled By: Richard Spellenberg, 1998