Gen info
- Dalea is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae. Members of the genus are generally known as prairie clover or indigo bush. The genus is native to the Wester hemisphere, from Canada to Argentina. Nearly half of the known species are endemic to Mexico.
- Etymology: The genus name Dalea honors English apothecary Samuel Dale (1659-1739). The specific epithet cliffortiana honors George Clifford (1685-1760), a wealthy Dutch Banker, director of the Dutch East India Company, and owner of the Hartekamp estate in Holland, where Carl Linnaeus was employed.

Botany
• Kamañgi is an erect, branched, nearly smooth herb, 30 to 60 cm high. Stems are reddish or purplish. Leaves are about 3 cm long. Leaflets are linear to narrowly oblong, 4 to 10 mm long, prominently glandular-punctate beneath. Spikes are dense, capitate ovoid to oblong, 1 to 2 cm long. Flowers are very numerous, each subtended by a lanceolate, long-acuminate, hairy, glandular.

• An erect, much-branched herb up to 70 cm tall; stems reddish, glandular-dotted. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, (1-)1.5-3(-5) cm long; rachis narrowly winged; stipules narrow; leaflets 5-15(-19), linear to narrowly elliptical, (2-)4-8(-15) mm long, entire, gland-dotted below; stipels represented by paired glands. Inflorescence a narrow, compact, terminal spike 0.8-3.5 cm long; bracts abruptly acuminate, pubescent, gland-dotted. Flowers bisexual; calyx 3-5 mm long, 5-toothed, densely pilose; corolla papilionaceous, standard 3-5 mm long, clawed, white often tinged rose, wings 2-2.5 mm long, keel 2-3.5 mm long, wings and keel blue to pink or white; stamens 9-10, all connate; ovary superior, pubescent, 1-celled. Fruit an obovoid pod 2-2.5 mm long, indehiscent, 1-seeded. Seed oblong, c. 1.5 mm long. (3)

Distribution
- Introduced from Mexico.
- Naturalized. (2)
- In Luzon, from Ilocos Norte to Batangas.
- Abundant on open dry slopes at low and medium altitudes, ascending up to 1,300 meters.
- Native to Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua, Panamá, Venezuela. (1)

Constituents
- Study of fresh vegetal material for essential oil by microwave-assisted distillation identified major components of methyl-eugenol (69%), trans-ß-caryophyllene (15%), germacrene D (5%), caryophyllene oxide (3%), and α-humulene (1%). (see study below) (6)

Properties
- Studies have suggested molluscicidal properties.

Parts used
Leaves, stems, roots.

Uses
Edibility
- No information found on edibility.
Folkloric
- In the Philippines, decoction of roots taken as a cold drink for hemoptysis. (3)
- Juice of fresh leaves used as vulnerary, the baggase applied as cataplasm on wounds.
- Ash of leaves and stems used as cicatrizant. (3)

Studies
• Molluscididal / Leaves: Screening of leaf extract of D. cliffortiana showed low to moderate activity against golden snail (Pomacea sp.) at concentrations of 4000-8000 ppm. (3) (5)
• Essential Oil: Study of fresh vegetal material for essential oil by microwave-assisted distillation identified major components of methyl-eugenol (69%: insecticidal, acaricidal, antimicrobial, and repellent against Aedes aegypti), trans-ß-caryophyllene (15%: antileshmanial effect, antioxidant and antibacterial activity), germacrene D (5%), caryophyllene oxide (3%), and α-humulene (1%). (6)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

DOI: It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page. (Citing and Using a (DOI) Digital Object Identifier)