''Psorodendron 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 The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

s of northern Mexico and adjacent sections of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and the

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Description

''Psorodendron schottii'' is a

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

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 In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is an open

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

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 A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s with pointed lobes. The fruit is a

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

pod coated in glands and containing one seed.

References

External links

CalFlora Database: ''Psorothamnus schottii'' (Schott indigobush, Schott's dalea, Schott's indigo bush)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Psorothamnus schottii''USDA Plants Profile for ''Psorothamnus schottii''UC Photos gallery — ''Psorothamnus schottii''
Amorpheae Flora of Arizona Flora of the California desert regions Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Natural history of the Colorado Desert Plants described in 1859 Taxa named by John Torrey Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Faboideae-stub