Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium cuspidatum |
|
|---|---|---|
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creeping beggarweed, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-trefoil, zarzabacoa comun |
large-bract tick-trefoil |
|
| Habit | Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs, perennial; stoloniferous or rhizomatous. | Herbs, perennial. |
| Stems | erect or ascending, to 300 cm, pubescent or glabrescent. |
erect or ascending, usually striate, 50–150 cm, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely uncinate-pubescent or pilose. |
| 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. |
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. |
| Inflorescences | unbranched; rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 6–7 mm. |
branched; rachis densely uncinate-pubescent to rarely glabrescent; primary bracts conspicuously covering apex of inflorescences, narrowly ovate, 8–14 mm. |
| Pedicels | persistent with calyx-remnant at top after loments drop, 5–9 mm. |
4–8 mm, densely patent uncinate-puberulent and sparsely pilose. |
| 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, 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. |
| 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 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. |
| 2n | = 22. |
|
Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium cuspidatum |
|
| Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering summer–fall. |
| Habitat | Pine-palmetto flatwoods, woodland borders, lawns, ruderal sites, disturbed or waste areas. | Rich, moist woodlands, thickets, openings, dry, rocky woodlands, ruderal areas. |
| Elevation | 0–50 m. [0–160 ft.] | 0–1000 m. [0–3300 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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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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| 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 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.) |
| 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 | Hedysarum cuspidatum, D. bracteosum, D. cuspidatum var. longifolium, D. grandiflorum, Meibomia grandiflora, M. longifolia |
| Name authority | (Swartz) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 332. (1825) — name conserved | (Muhlenberg ex Willdenow) de Candolle ex G. Don in J. C. Loudon: Hort. Brit., 309. (1830) |
| Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
| Web links | ||