Purple Prairie 
Clover   

Scientific Name: Dalea purpurea Vent.

Short Description: Purple Prairie Clover is a native legume with narrow slender leaves and purple cylindrical flowers.  

Description: Purple prairie clover is a native warm-season perennial legume adapted to all but the eastern tier and western tier states of the United States.  Purple prairie clover is very desirable component of warm season grass plantings.  It is readily grazed by all classes of livestock and is an important food source for upland game birds.  It is most abundant in upland sites in sand prairies, hill prairies, and gravel-hill prairies.  Purple prairie clover has very showy cylindrical flowers and narrow slender leaves making it a very attractive and non-invasive ornamental plant for the gardens or wildflower plantings.  

Plant Taxonomy of Purple Prairie Clover

Kingdom	Plantae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta
Superdivision	Spermatophyta
Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Subclass	Asteridae
Order	Asterales
Family	Asteraceae
Genus	Dalea L.
Species	Dalea purpurea Vent.

Plant Characteristics of Purple Prairie Clover

Height	12 to 36 inches
Growth habit	several stems from a single base
Bloom color	pinkish-purple
Bloom period	early summer
Sun requirement	full sun
Leaf foilage color	green narrow leaflets
Seeds per pound	300,000 hulled
Minimum soil temperature for germination	65 ºF
Soil pH range	6.5 to 8.0
Planting Rate	3 oz/1000 or 8 lbs/acre
Planting Depth	¼ to ½ inch
Planting season	scarified seed: spring; unscarified seed: fall

*Special considerations for spring germination:  seed germination can be improved with mechanical
scarification.  Seed needs to be inoculated with Rhizobium for nitrogen fixation to occur. Germination
of scarified seed generally occurs within 2 weeks after planting provided adequate soil moisture and
temperature conditions are met.

Uses of Purple Prairie Clover

Landscape:  attractive in mass plantings as well as in species mixes

Wildlife:  important food source, insect attractant and cover for game birds

Erosion control: when combined with grasses, forbs, and legumes

Commerically Available Cultivars of Purple Prairie Clover

'Kaneb' (released by the Manhattan Plant Materials Center, Manhattan, Kansas)