Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium batocaulon |
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|---|---|---|
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creeping beggarweed, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-trefoil, zarzabacoa comun |
San Pedro tick trefoil |
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| Habit | Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs, perennial; stoloniferous or rhizomatous. | Herbs, perennial. |
| Stems | erect or ascending, to 300 cm, pubescent or glabrescent. |
decumbent or decumbent-assurgent, branched, 30–120 cm, densely uncinate-pubescent. |
| Leaves | trifoliolate; stipules usually persistent, narrowly ovate-deltate, 5–10 mm; petiole usually 15–20 mm; leaflet blades elliptic to ovate, apex obtuse or acute, surfaces finely spreading-villosulous to substrigose abaxially, uncinate-puberulent or glabrescent adaxially; terminal blade 20–90 × 15–45 mm, length 1.5–4 times width. |
tri-foliolate; stipules caducous, narrowly ovate, 5+ mm; petiole 20–30 mm; leaflet blades ovate-elliptic to narrowly so, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces densely appressed-pubescent abaxially, sparsely so adaxially; terminal blade (20–)35–60 × 8–10(–15) mm, length 2.5–4 times width. |
| Inflorescences | unbranched; rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 6–7 mm. |
axillary and terminal, branched or unbranched; rachis patent uncinate-puberulent to pubescent; primary bracts closely imbricate before anthesis, caducous, ovate, 5 mm. |
| Pedicels | persistent with calyx-remnant at top after loments drop, 5–9 mm. |
5–10 mm. |
| Flowers | calyx 2–3.5 mm, uncinate-puberulent, lobes pilose, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 1.5–2.5 mm, lateral lobes 1–2 mm; corolla purple, 5–8 mm. |
calyx 3–4 mm, sparsely pubescent, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 3 mm, lateral lobes 2 mm; corolla pink or purple to blue, 7–9 mm. |
| Loments | sutures symmetrically crenate abaxially, straight or slightly sinuate adaxially; connections central, 1/2–2/3 as broad as segments; segments 4–8, semiobovate, 3.5–5 × 2.5–3 mm, broadly rounded abaxially, straight or barely convex adaxially, uncinate-puberulent; stipe 1.5–2 mm. |
sutures undulate abaxially, sinuate adaxially; connections adaxial, 1/4–1/3 as broad as segments; segments 4–7, semiorbiculate, 3–5 × 3–3.5 mm, rounded abaxially, slightly convex adaxially, glabrous or sparsely uncinate-puberulent throughout; stipe 1–2 mm. |
| 2n | = 22. |
|
Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium batocaulon |
|
| Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
| Habitat | Pine-palmetto flatwoods, woodland borders, lawns, ruderal sites, disturbed or waste areas. | Dry, rocky woodlands, pine or oak-juniper woodlands, canyons, roadsides. |
| Elevation | 0–50 m. [0–160 ft.] | 1200–2100 m. [3900–6900 ft.] |
| Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; TX; Central America; South America; Mexico (Chiapas, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tamaulipas, Veracruz); West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia (Taiwan), Africa, Indian Ocean Islands (Mauritius, Reunion), Pacific Islands, Australia]
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AZ; NM; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas)
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| Discussion | Desmodium incanum may be distinguished by its long-persistent stipules usually fused and nearly surrounding the stem, at least when young, and by its pedicels which are usually borne singly and are each subtended by one primary bract and two (lateral) secondary bracts (B. G. Schubert 1980). Desmodium incanum was long known as D. canum Schinz & Thellung (= Meibomia cana S. F. Blake) based on the illegitimate Hedysarum canum J. F. Gmelin, a superfluous name for H. racemosum Aublet. The complex nomenclatural history was elaborated by D. H. Nicolson (1978) and L. C. P. Lima et al. (2012, 2014). Hedysarum canescens Miller (1768) is a later homonym of H. canescens Linnaeus (1753), thus illegitimate, and pertains here. Hedysarum canum J. F. Gmelin is a superfluous name for H. racemosum Aublet; Meibomia cana S. F. Blake was intended as a new combination based on that name. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
In the flora area, Desmodium batocaulon is known from southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Synonyms | Hedysarum incanum, Aeschynomene incana, D. ancistrocarpum, D. canum, D. frutescens, D. frutescens var. amplyophyllum, D. malacophyllum, D. mauritianum, D. supinum var. amblyophyllum, H. ancistrocarpum, H. malacophyllum, H. mauritianum, H. racemosum, Meibomia adscendens var. incana, M. incana, M. malacophylla, M. supina | Meibomia batocaulos |
| Name authority | (Swartz) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 332. (1825) — name conserved | A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 47. (1853) |
| Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
| Web links | ||