Description | Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens) A native North American Prairie plant. |
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Plant Type | Wild Flowers, Site author's observations |
Hardiness Zone | 5 |
Sunlight | full |
Moisture | very draught tolerant plant growing in average to dry conditions |
Soil & Site | mesic to dry prairies, sandy to loamy soils |
Flowers | deep purple and found in dense spike-like clusters, individual small flower has a green calyx, purple petals and 10 protruding orange tipped stamens |
Leaves | silvery gray, alternate, compound and up to 50 narrow leaflets, canescens means covered in shorthairs that are usually white or gray, very fine and short |
Roots | long and stringy hence the name Prairie Shoe Lead plant creates its own fertilizer by fixing nitrogen |
Dimensions | Forms a few branched shrub reaching up to 3 feet. |
Propagation | Seeds may take up to five years to flower. |
Author's Notes | I have seen this plant many times in prairies. The silvery-gray foliage makes it stand out among the other plants. |
Notes & Reference | #56-Tall Grass Prairie Wild Flowers, #224-Prairie Nursery web site (www.prairienursery.com) |