Stanleya pinnata is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known as desert prince's-plume. It is a perennial herb or shrub native to North America.
The plant is native to the western Great Plains and western North America.[1]
It occurs in many types of open habitat, including deserts, chaparral, foothills, rocky cliffs, sagebrush, and prairie. It prefers alkali- and gypsum-rich soils.[2]
Stanleya pinnata is a perennial herb or shrub producing several erect stems reaching up to about 1.5m (04.9feet) in maximum height. The stems are unbranched,[3] hairless, often waxy in texture, and have woody bases. The leaves have fleshy blades up to 15 centimeters long by 5 wide which are divided into several long, narrow lobes. The blades are borne on petioles.
The top of the stem is occupied by a long inflorescence which is a dense raceme of many flowers. Each flower has four narrow yellowish sepals which open to reveal four bright yellow petals each up to 2 cm long. The stamens protruding from the flower's center may approach 3 cm in length.
The fruit is a curving, wormlike silique up to 8 cm long.
It has been used as a Native American traditional medicinal plant and food source, including by the Hopi, Zuni, Paiute, Navajo, Kawaiisu, and Tewa peoples.[4]
It is a larval host to both Becker's white and checkered white caterpillars.[5]
Some of the plant's amino acids use selenium from the soil in place of sulfur, making it highly toxic to animals.