Foxtail Prairie Clover

Dalea leporina

Found in prairies and woodlands, disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

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Not native

Not native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 35%

Height: 1–2 feet

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At a glance

Life cycle: Annual

Not yet recorded · Spread · Light · Soil · Leaves · Bloom

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 1 Virginia county.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 3

Barrens grassland after a prescribed fire. Shown: Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, a neighboring state.Barrens native plants returning after prescribed fire, September 2020, NPS Photo / Rick Olson, September 2020. Public domain. Source record.

Forests and woodlands

Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

5CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Dalea

Aristotelia roseosuffusellaPink-Washed Aristotelia
Hypomecis umbrosariaUmber Moth
Iridopsis humariaSmall Purplish Gray
Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
Stegasta bosqueellaRed-Necked Peanutworm

Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)

—BeesSoutheastern regional records

5Specialist beesPollen specialists

Pollen specialists · Dalea

Colletes aberrans
Colletes howardi
Colletes robertsonii
Colletes susannae
Colletes wilmattae

Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0

1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Dalea

Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken

Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family: Fabaceae
Flower color: White, blue or purple

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope

Flower color · “White, blue or purple” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Height · “1–2 feet” · Minnesota Wildflowers
Life cycle · “Annual” · Minnesota Wildflowers

Also known as

Hares Foot Dalea

Conservation status

Virginia rank	SNA
Global rank	Not available
VA status	Not verified
Federal status	Not verified

Conservation source

Native alternatives

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