Desmodium cuspidatum |
Desmodium scorpiurus |
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large-bract tick-trefoil |
scorpion ticktrefoil |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial. | Herbs, perennial. |
Stems | erect or ascending, usually striate, 50–150 cm, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely uncinate-pubescent or pilose. |
slender, procumbent or decumbent, 20–100 cm, densely patent uncinate-puberulent and/or inconspicuously pilose. |
Leaves | trifoliolate; stipules usually persistent, narrowly ovate or subulate, 10–20 mm; petiole 40–70 mm; leaflet blades ovate to broadly ovate, apex sharply acuminate to shortly cuspidate, surfaces glabrous (except veins spreading-villosulous); terminal blade 50–120 × 30–70 mm, length 1.5–3 times width. |
trifoliolate; stipules persistent, obliquely ovate, 2–3.5 mm, base auriculate, amplexicaul; petiole 10–20 mm; leaflet blades usually ovate to shortly elliptic, rarely narrowly elliptic, apex obtuse, surfaces appressed-pubescent; terminal blade usually 10–35(–50) × 7–30 mm, length (1.5–)2–3 times width. |
Inflorescences | branched; rachis densely uncinate-pubescent to rarely glabrescent; primary bracts conspicuously covering apex of inflorescences, narrowly ovate, 8–14 mm. |
lax-flowered, terminal and axillary, usually unbranched; rachis densely spreading-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 1.5–2 mm. |
Pedicels | 4–8 mm, densely patent uncinate-puberulent and sparsely pilose. |
3–10 mm. |
Flowers | calyx 3–4 mm, glabrate, margins sparsely ciliate, lobes pilose, tube 1.5–2 mm; abaxial lobes 3–4 mm, lateral lobes 2–3 mm; corolla purple, 8–12 mm. |
calyx 1.5–2.5 mm, pilose, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 1.5 mm, lateral lobes 0.7–1 mm; corolla lavender-pink or reddish purple, banner with yellow spots, 4–5 mm. |
Loments | sutures dentate abaxially, sinuate adaxially; connections adaxial, 1/2 as broad as segments; segments (1–)4–7, obliquely narrow-rhombic or suborbiculate, (7–)9–11 × 4–5 mm, angled abaxially, slightly convex adaxially, sparsely uncinate-puberulent, sutures densely uncinate-puberulent; stipe 1–2.5 mm. |
turgid, straight or curved, linear; sutures equally shallow-undulate; connections central, 2/3–3/4 as broad as segments; segments 5–10, narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, 4–5 × 1.5 mm, rugose, not reticulate, symmetrically convex abaxially and adaxially, densely uncinate-pubescent throughout; stipe 1 mm. |
Desmodium cuspidatum |
Desmodium scorpiurus |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering year-round. |
Habitat | Rich, moist woodlands, thickets, openings, dry, rocky woodlands, ruderal areas. | Waste places, lawns. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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FL; Central America; South America; Mexico (Durango, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Sonora, Veracruz); West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia] |
Discussion | In Texas, Desmodium cuspidatum is known only from Bowie County, at the northeastern corner of the state. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Desmodium | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Desmodium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Hedysarum cuspidatum, D. bracteosum, D. cuspidatum var. longifolium, D. grandiflorum, Meibomia grandiflora, M. longifolia | Hedysarum scorpiurus, Meibomia scorpiurus |
Name authority | (Muhlenberg ex Willdenow) de Candolle ex G. Don in J. C. Loudon: Hort. Brit., 309. (1830) | (Swartz) Poiret in F. Cuvier: Dict. Sci. Nat. ed. 2, 13: 110. (1819) |
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