Index / Search / Dalea formosa

§1 Plant

Dalea formosa Torr.

vernacular featherplume — species · Fabaceae


USDA
DAFO
GBIF
5353250
Rank
species
featherplume (Dalea formosa)
Platephotograph · Eric in SF source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Shrub, Subshrub
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus
Dalea
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 11 counties across 1 state
Legend Native · 11 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
Low
Fire
Medium
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-13 °F minimum
Frost-free days
160 min.
Precipitation
12–20 in/yr
pH range
5.5–7.5
Root depth
16 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Multiple Stem
Growth rate
Slow
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
3 ft
Height @ 20 y
3 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Gray-Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Moderate
Flower colour
Purple
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
Medium
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Indeterminate
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Propagation
seed, bare root, container
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Contracting Only
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Medium
Graze palatability
Medium
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 11 counties across 1 state.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/DAFO ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5353250 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T07:25:30Z