• Dalea purpurea or Petalostemum purpureum (Purple Prairie Clover) native plant in bloom
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Dalea purpurea or Petalostemum purpureum (Purple Prairie Clover)

Dalea purpurea or Petalostemum purpureum (Purple Prairie Clover)

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Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea) combines small divided leaves with compact flower spikes at the tips of branching stems. Beneath the foliage, a substantial taproot anchors the perennial plant. Give young plants an opening among prairie grasses rather than an already dense sod, which can make establishment difficult.

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Plant specifications & ecological relationships

Key growing facts

Sunlight Full sun
Soil moisture Average to dry
Height ¾–3 ft
Bloom season Early to mid-summer

Native landscape companions

For full sun and dry-mesic soil, consider these native plants alongside Dalea purpurea:

Companion plant Height
Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) 2-3 ft
Small Yellow Fox Sedge (Carex annectens) 18 to 40 inches
Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens) 1-3 ft
Northern Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) Foliage 1–2 ft high; flowering stems 1½–3 ft long

These landscape suggestions combine overlapping growing needs with documented plant associations. Match soil, seasonal wetness and mature spread to your site. Remnant records are described separately under Plant communities & associates.

Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
Growth habit Upright, unbranched herbaceous perennial
Root form Strong woody taproot with lateral roots; FEIS reports mature taproots 5.5–6.5 feet deep.
Soil pH Published cultivation guidance lists acidic, alkaline, neutral soil conditions; no optimal numeric interval is established.
Cultivation hardiness zones Zones 3a–8b (general cultivation guidance)
Drought tolerance Drought tolerance reported in cultivation guidance; establishment needs and duration are not specified.
Deer browsing Deer resistance reported in cultivation guidance; browsing remains possible.

Plant identification & seed reference

Botanical name Dalea purpurea
Other common names purple prairie clover; Purple Prairie Clover; Purple Prairie-clover; Thimbleweed; Violet Dalea; Violet Prairie Clover; Violet Prairie-clover
Plant family Fabaceae

Plant characteristics

Dalea purpurea or Petalostemum purpureum (Purple Prairie Clover) has a compact growth habit and beautiful purple colored flower lends itself well to landscaped groupings.  

  • Flower Color Purple
  • Flower Time July-September
Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associates

Documented Illinois communities

Mature dry sand prairie — burned

Lost Mound — Jo Daviess County, Illinois; 2005 survey.

Other native plants recorded in this survey area: Amorpha canescens, Andropogon gerardii, Anemone cylindrica, Asclepias verticillata, Asclepias viridiflora, Aster ericoides, Bouteloua curtipendula, Bouteloua hirsuta, Ceanothus americanus, Coreopsis palmata, Eragrostis spectabilis, Helianthus occidentalis.

Selected species from the ground layer. The survey includes disturbance and succession; these records do not specify immediate neighbors or planting proportions.

Illinois community record

Dry-mesic sand prairie — historical record

Recorded in 1976 at Short Pioneer Cemetery Prairie, a small sand-prairie remnant in Grundy County. This plant was not relocated during the 2005–2006 survey; its present status is unassessed.

This is a whole-remnant record; the plant’s exact microsite and neighboring species were not established.

Illinois plant communities

Mesic black-soil prairie — central Illinois

Recorded at Loda Cemetery Prairie (Iroquois County), Prospect Cemetery Prairie (Ford County). INHS identifies these sites as remnants of this community.

Selected native plants from the same remnant records:

These inventories include edges and disturbed patches. Shared remnant records do not establish that every plant grows together in one microsite.

Illinois plant communities

These regional accounts place this plant and the plants below in the same type of natural community. A community list does not mean that every species grew together in one plot. Use the habitat and location to understand the relationship; it is not a planting recipe.

Other regional plant communities

These plants are named with this species in published vegetation accounts. Each list keeps its community and region; some records describe a shared vegetation type rather than neighboring plants in a measured plot. They are ecological records, not a planting recipe, and may include plants unsuitable for a particular garden.

Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value

State nativity describes a broad range. Use the Chicago-region assessment for local context; a state listing does not establish county nativity.

Wetland indicator — Corps Chicago 2017 table UPL
C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 9
Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 Yes
Native range — U.S. states Alabama; Arizona; Colorado; Georgia; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Michigan; Minnesota; Montana; New Mexico; North Dakota; Oklahoma; Tennessee; Texas; Wisconsin; Wyoming
County nativity Grundy County, Illinois — historical prairie-remnant record (1976); not relocated in the 2005–2006 survey. County coverage is partial.
Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlife

Illinois bees & other flower visitors

A historical survey near Carlinville, Illinois, listed 94 insect entries visiting Purple Prairie Clover flowers, including 55 bee entries. Observations fell between July 1 and August 2 across the survey; these are listed insect taxa, not a count of individual visits or a current census.

The account identifies Colletes albescens and Colletes robertsonii as pollen specialists visiting this plant. That designation does not establish exclusive dependence on Purple Prairie Clover.

Names below follow the original book, which sometimes gives only the genus in an entry. Historical names and abbreviations have not been reconciled to current species names. These flower visits are separate from the caterpillar host records below.

Bees

  • Apis — abbreviated in source
  • Bombias auricomus
  • Bombias scutellaris
  • Bombias separatus
  • Bombus americanorum
  • Bombus impatiens
  • Psithyrus variabilis
  • Ceratina — abbreviated in source
  • Neotrypetes truncatus
  • Alcidamea simplex
  • Hoplitis — abbreviated in source
  • Megachile brevis
  • Megachile 6-dentata
  • Sayapis sayi
  • Xanthosarus — abbreviated in source
  • Coelioxys alternata
  • Coelioxys germana
  • Coelioxys 8-dentata
  • Coelioxys rufitarsis
  • Coelioxys sayi
  • Xylocopa — abbreviated in source
  • Epeolus bifasciatus
  • Triepeolus concavus
  • Triepeolus concolor
  • Triepeolus lunatus
  • Triepeolus remigatus
  • Epimelissodes obliqua
  • Melissodes agilis
  • Melissodes bimaculata
  • Melissodes comptoides
  • Melissodes petalostemonis
  • Melissodes trinodis
  • Melissodes variabilis
  • Melissodes vernoniana
  • Tetralonia dilecta
  • Xenoglossodes — abbreviated in source
  • Amegilla — abbreviated in source
  • Agapostemon radiatus
  • Agapostemon splendens
  • Agapostemon texanus
  • Agapostemon viridulus
  • Augochlora fervida
  • Chloralictus albipennis
  • Chloralictus pilosus
  • Chloralictus pruinosus
  • Chloralictus versatus
  • Halictus lerouxii
  • Halictus parallelus
  • Odontalictus — abbreviated in source
  • Oxystoglossa confusa
  • Oxystoglossa similis
  • Seladonia — abbreviated in source
  • Colletes albescens — pollen specialist in the historical account
  • Colletes robertsonii — pollen specialist in the historical account
  • Paranomia — abbreviated in source

Wasps

  • Ammobia ichneumonea
  • Priononyx atrata
  • Priononyx thomae
  • Sphex gracilis
  • Sphex nigricans
  • Sphex pictipennis
  • Sphex procera
  • Sphex vulgaris
  • Bembix nubillipennis
  • Bembix spinolae
  • Campsomeris — abbreviated in source
  • Elis 5-cincta
  • Cerceris bicornuta
  • Philanthus ventilabris
  • Eumenes fraternus

Flies

  • Allograpta — abbreviated in source
  • Eristalis latifrons
  • Helophilus latifrons
  • Mesogramma marginata
  • Sphaerophoria — abbreviated in source
  • Tropidia quadrata
  • Exoprosopa fasciata
  • Systoechus — abbreviated in source
  • Oncomyia — abbreviated in source
  • Physocephala texana
  • Zodion obliquefasciatum
  • Sarcophaga cimbicis

Butterflies & skippers

  • Everes — abbreviated in source
  • Eurymus — abbreviated in source
  • Zerene — abbreviated in source
  • Limochores taumas
  • Pholisora catullus
  • Polites — abbreviated in source

Beetles

  • Typocerus sinuatus
  • Diabrotica 12-punctata
  • Epicauta pennsylvanica
  • Epicauta trichrus

True bugs

  • Calocoris — abbreviated in source
  • Euschistus ictericus

Bees & other flower visitors

USGS observations recorded the following insects visiting flowers of this plant in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. The records describe visits, without distinguishing pollen collection from nectar feeding or measuring successful pollination. They do not establish local occurrence, exclusive dependence, or a larval-host relationship.

Bees

  • Anthophora walshii — North Dakota; 2017.
  • Apis mellifera (honey bee) — Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota; 2014, 2015, 2016.
  • Bombus bimaculatus — North Dakota; 2013.
  • Bombus fervidus — North Dakota; 2015, 2017.
  • Bombus griseocollis — North Dakota; 2012.
  • Bombus rufocinctus — North Dakota; 2013.
  • Bombus sp. (genus only) — Minnesota, South Dakota; 2016.
  • Bombus ternarius — North Dakota; 2013.
  • Halictus confusus — Minnesota; 2017.
  • Lasioglossum albipenne — Minnesota; 2017.
  • Lasioglossum paraforbesii — Minnesota; 2017.

Other flower visitors

  • Bembix sp. (genus only) — North Dakota; 2012.
  • Helophilus latifrons — North Dakota; 2015.

Caterpillars & other plant-feeding insects

This plant has published caterpillar host records for the butterflies and moths listed below. These are larval feeding relationships, separate from adult nectar visits. The records span a North American literature compilation and do not establish that every insect occurs locally or uses only this plant.

Butterflies & skippers

  • Echinargus isola — Reakirt's Blue, Isola Blue
  • Zerene cesonia — Southern Dogface

Moths

  • Hystrichophora taleana — Indigobush Twig Borer Moth
Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions

What are the ideal growing conditions for Purple Prairie Clover?
Light: Full sun. Soil moisture: Average to dry.

Is Purple Prairie Clover deer and herbivore resistant?
Deer resistance reported in cultivation guidance; browsing remains possible. Even plants described as resistant may be browsed. Use physical protection where deer damage is a concern.

When should I expect Purple Prairie Clover to bloom?
Typical flowering period: Early to mid-summer. Timing varies with location and weather.

Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes

Landscape companion selection: Natural Communities compared the growing requirements shown on these species pages with selected source records: Mature dry sand prairie — burned — Northwestern Illinois — Mississippi River sand deposits; Mesic black-soil prairie — Loda Cemetery Prairie — Central Illinois. The shortlist is a planting-design inference. A shared record does not establish adjacency, identical soil requirements, local seed origin, or a tested planting combination. Regional synthesis records retain their documented focal-to-associate scope.

Illinois communities & local records: INHS: Loda, Prospect and Weston prairie records; INHS: Illinois sand-area plant communities.

Native range & ecological ratings: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), via Universal FQA; Kew WCVP / Plants of the World Online; USACE Chicago FQA (2017).

Growing conditions & other references: Illinois Wildflowers, John Hilty; USDA Forest Service: Dalea purpurea; Flowers and insects; NC State Extension Plant Toolbox.

Wildlife records: Shropshire & Tallamy: caterpillar hosts (2025); USGS Pollinator Library; Smith et al.: pollen-host records (2025).

Native range does not identify the origin of the seed or plants offered. Community and wildlife records apply to the locations and conditions described.

Research notes & credits

Caterpillar host records: Shropshire, K.J. & Tallamy, D.W. (2025), Lepidoptera of North America, Supplement 1. Contains information from this database made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Natural Communities selected species-level records and screened source qualifications. The complete selection and transformation instructions for this page are available below under the same license.

State nativity: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 4 June 2026 release; taxon Dalea purpurea. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Only records marked native, not extinct and not doubtful are included. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data; no Kew endorsement is implied.

Smith et al. (2025) — pollen-host literature dataset. Smith, C., Bachelder, N., Russell, A.L., Morales, V., Mosher, A.R. & Seltmann, K.C. (2025), Oecologia 207:13, DOI 10.1007/s00442-024-05653-5. Data release 14757220, CC BY 4.0; selected genus-level pollen-host records from russell_formatted-15Aug2024.csv summarized. Family records and model predictions excluded; no endorsement implied. CC BY 4.0.

USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication.

Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.

Caterpillar research records

Plant: Dalea purpurea

Record scope: Host literature synthesis; no county nativity or local insect occurrence inferred.

Shropshire & Tallamy (2025) · Original research dataset · Reuse license: ODbL-1.0

Plant names in the source Source insect record IDs
Dalea purpurea 204375, 207287, 213038

How these records were selected

To reproduce this selection, use the “UDELep May 2025” worksheet in the original research dataset.

  1. Match the insect record IDs above to column A (UDLepID). Within each table row, pair every listed insect ID with every listed source plant name.
  2. Use the first two words in column H for the insect’s scientific name, column E for its common name, and column AB for its source category.
  3. Treat the selected pairs as reported caterpillar host records. Keep all other source fields unchanged and outside this selected table. Include no other rows or host pairs.
  4. Group butterflies and skippers together, and the other categories as moths. Retain the source’s exotic-category labels and sort display names by scientific insect name.

Historical county and community record: Phillippe, Marcum, Busemeyer & Ebinger (2010), p. 8, reporting the 1976 inventory, with IDNR remnant-site context. The original 1976 survey was not examined. Remnant origin is inferred from the historical prairie record; modern seeded areas are not used as evidence. Later restoration history is documented separately. Only selected factual records are reused; no open license is claimed for the paper.

Survey communities: Ebinger et al. (2006), Tables 1–12, Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin. CC BY 4.0; adapted as dated presence lists, with the source’s non-native records excluded from the displayed native lists.

Growing guidance: Illinois Extension — Keeping deer out of the yard and garden. Selected facts in original wording. General deer advice is not a species resistance rating.

Plant Shipping & Care

We want to ensure that our customers get what they want, a native backyard oasis. To do that, we need to follow a few simple guidelines and give you some information and pointers to make sure you get your plants delivered in a healthy state.

As a reminder, you will receive an email to confirm your pickup or shipping window just before the plants are ready. See Order Fulfillment below for seasonal fulfillment windows.

 

Choices to Receive Your Plants & Accessories

  • Website orders: Seed, plugs and bare-root plants offered for shipping are shipped to your address. Shipping charges are calculated at checkout.
  • Container trees and shrubs: Some #3 and #5 container options are offered for scheduled pickup only. Check the selected product option and the cart pickup instructions before ordering. Pickup and shipped items require separate orders where indicated in the cart.
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  • Pickup locations and dates are confirmed by email. Please wait for confirmation before traveling to a pickup site. Our offices are not retail stores or nursery pickup locations.

 

Order Fulfilment - When Your Plants or Other Items Will Be Ready

We take orders all year long and seed is shipped all year, but we only provide the plants to you in certain fulfillment windows to ensure healthy plants.

Wholesale Orders

  • Shipped or are Ready For Pick Up As Requested.

 

Retail & Website Orders

  • Seed Typically Ships Out Within One Week Of Order All Year Long
  • Typically, single species flats ship when ready, sometimes as soon as early to mid-April (depends on weather) through early-October.
  • Mixed species kits are batched and shipped as indicated on the product page.
  • If a plant order is placed while outside of the plant fulfillment window your plants will be reserved through your payment, however, the order will not be fulfilled and shipped until the following spring. We don't want to provide you plants when they won't be happy during the cold winter months. 
  • Early in the spring and later in the fall certain species may be dormant or partially dormant with brown leaves, however they will return to grow healthy next growing season.
  • Your order may arrive in several different shipments.
  • If certain plants within an order will not be available until a later date, we may choose to hold the full order until all are ready.  In certain circumstances, we may choose to send them in two separate shipments 
  • Fulfillment is always dependent upon plant availability.  We try our best but sometimes plants do not overwinter well and perish.  If a plant is on back order you will receive an email indicating the estimated shipping date.  If we can not provide the plant we will first notify you and give you an option of substitution or a refund of that individual species.
  • Plants are typically only packaged and shipped on Mondays to ensure they do not sit in the harsh delivery facility for extended periods of time over the weekend. You will receive a confirmation email once your delivery has been shipped and to estimate your delivery date.
  • Apparel & accessories are ready typically within one to two weeks. See product page for holiday shipping.

Where We Ship

 

 

        What to Expect When Receiving Your Delivery

        • Your plants will be packaged with the utmost care
        • We will need to cut back certain plants prior to shipping. This seems counter-intuitive, however, the fewer leaves the less water the plants can lose during shipping, resulting in healthier plants for you. This also enables the plants to fit within the protective packaging and shipped safely.

         

           Shipments

          • Larger plant shipments will look similar to the picture below with a tray of your plants and a cardboard box to protect them during shipping.

           

           

          What to Do With Your Plants After  Receiving Your Delivery

          • Unpack your order IMMEDIATELY
          • Inspect for damage and report any issues immediately to Natives@NaturalCommunities.net
          • Water your plants
          • Install your plants as quickly as possible and water the entire garden area thoroughly
          • If you cannot install your plants immediately
            • Some plants may not be in a container, put them into some kind of a container such as a paper cup with loose soil until installation
            • Make sure each plant is receiving the appropriate amount of light.
            • Continue to water daily each morning and possibly again in the afternoon
            • No additional fertilizer is needed
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