DALEA (Dalea californica, Wats.). The genus Dalea is an 

 important one in the Far West, comprising both herbs and 

 shrubs, with odd-pinnate leaves usually abundantly sprinkled 

 with resinous dots, and small pea-like blossoms borne in 

 terminal, often showy, clusters and spikes. 



Dalea californica is a low, pale-barked shrub of the Colorado 

 Desert of California, and in March or early April the bushes, 

 which are two or three feet high, are a glory of rich indigo color 

 from the loose clusters of expanded blossoms. In simikr 

 situations is the closely related Dalea Schottii, Torr., with 

 equally beautiful dark blue flowers, but there is a marked dif- 

 ference in the foliage. In D. californica the leaves are pin- 

 nate with a few pairs of leaflets that are gray with fine hairs, 

 while the leaves of D. Schottii are simple, so narrow as to be al- 

 most needle-like, and with little or no hairiness. 



The most magnificent of the Pacific Coast daleas is a small 

 tree, D. spinosa, Gray, practically leafless, which grows in the 

 same desert and eastward to Arizona. It blooms in June, 

 when few travelers care to brave the desert heat, but the splen- 

 dor of this little tree, in its dress of deep indigo blue, is a sight 

 that will repay much hardship. It goes by the name of In- 

 digo-bush and Smoke-tree. 



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