Purple Prairie Clover
Family:
Fabaceae (beans)
Description:
A perennial legume with one or few stems from a common base, and flowers blooming from a cylindrical flowering head. Blooms June through September. Flowers grow at stalk tips in tight, rounded to cylindrical heads. Individual florets have only 1 true petal; the other petal-like structures are actually modified stamens. Flower color is rose-magenta to rose-purple. The buds are covered by silvery hair, and flowers open in a circle around the flower head from the bottom upward. Leaves are finely cut in 3–5 divisions. The leaflets grow opposite each other from the midrib, with the final one at the tip. At the base of the leaves grow narrow bracts (leaflike structures).
Size:
Height: to 3 feet.
Habitat and conservation:
Grows in prairies, glades, rocky open woods and roadsides.
Distribution in Missouri:
Statewide, except for the Mississippi Lowlands.
Status:
Common in the appropriate habitats. Increasingly common in landscape plantings. Formerly called Petalostemon purpureum.
Human connections:
An easily grown perennial often used in landscaping in rock gardens, borders, native plant gardens, wildflower gardens and prairie plantings. The unusual flower heads and delicate foliage make it a conversation starter. It has a lengthy blooming period and needs little care once established.
Ecosystem connections:
Like other legumes, this plant fixes nitrogen in its roots and helps keep the soils productive. The thick, deep taproot helps to bind the soil even as it enables this plant to tolerate drought. 
Shortened URL
mdc.mo.gov/node/3524
