White prairie clover

Dalea candida, the white prairie clover, is a perennial leguminous herb in the family Fabaceae native to the central grasslands of North America, from south-central Canada through the central United States to northern Mexico. The species grows on dry to mesic prairies, foothills, open woods, and disturbed ground. Plants reach about one meter tall and develop a long, slender taproot that descends 1.5 to 1.8 meters into the soil, anchoring the plant and allowing it to fix atmospheric nitrogen through root nodules. The stems are erect, slender, and many-branched from the base, bearing alternate, odd-pinnate leaves with several pairs of narrow, gland-dotted, light green leaflets that often emit a pleasant resinous scent when crushed. The inflorescence is a dense cylindrical spike borne at the tip of each stem or branch; it is composed of pointed green calyces from which emerge small, white, five-petalled, pea-like corollas, opening gradually from the base of the spike upwards. The fruit is a small, green, oval one-seeded legume pod. The species is an important nectar plant and a larval host for several butterflies.