[Illustration: Dalea mollis
Dalea spinosa
Dalea formosa]
Common names: SMOKETREE, INDIGOBUSH, PEABUSH
Arizona and California deserts: (_Dalea spinosa_). Blue-violet.
April-June.
Texas deserts: (_Dalea formosa_). Purple. March-June.
Pea family. Size: Up to 10 or 12 feet tall.
Famous, although not common, throughout the frostless areas of the
desert, the Smoketree, because of its gray-green, leafless, plume-like
growth resembles at a distance a gray cloud of smoke hovering over a
desert campfire. When in flower, in May or June, it is one of the
handsomest of desert shrubs. It is always found in the bed of a sandy
wash where it obtains moisture from runoff following summer showers or
winter rains.
In California, it occurs in portions of both the Mohave and the Colorado
Deserts, and in Arizona is restricted to the western part of the state.
It is fairly abundant near Quitobaquito in the southwestern corner of
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
Other species of Indigobush, of which there are many, are less famous
than the Smoketree, but all have purple or indigo flowers and most of
them are beautiful and noticeable when in blossom. Indians used an
extract from the twigs for dyeing basket material and ate the roots of
_D. terminalis_.