''Sophora stenophylla'', the fringeleaf necklacepod, or silvery sophora, is a

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

in the legume family (

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

) found in the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region of the southwestern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.Canyon Country Wildflowers, Damian Fagan, 2nd ed., 2012, Morris Bush Publishing, LLC. in cooperation with Canyonlands Natural History Association,

Description

Growth pattern

It is a perennial plant that grows tall. Its lacy leaves and blue to purple flowers make it very distinctive in its communities. It spreads by underground roots.

Leaves and stems

It has alternate, lacy, compound pinnate leaves with linear leaflets that are covered in dense, soft, and silvery hairs.

Inflorescence and fruit

It blooms from April to May. The terminal stalks bear 12–39 blue to purple, pea-shaped flowers. Seed pods have short, stiff hairs and 1–5 seeds.

Habitat and range

It can be found in sandy soils in

blackbrush scrub Blackbush scrub,Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam Mackay, p18, 252 or blackbrush scrub,Canyon Country Wildflowers, Damian Fagan, p 3, 105 is a vegetation type of the Western United States deserts characterized by low growing, dark gray blackbush ('' C ...

, pinyon-juniper woodland, and

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

forest communities in southern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Ecological and human interactions

Its foliage and seeds are toxic to livestock in large amounts.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15539557 stenophylla Flora of the United States Flora of Arizona Perennial plants Flora of New Mexico