Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium grahamii |
|
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creeping beggarweed, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-trefoil, zarzabacoa comun |
Graham's tick trefoil |
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Habit | Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs, perennial; stoloniferous or rhizomatous. | Herbs, perennial, sometimes mat-forming; rhizomatous. |
Stems | erect or ascending, to 300 cm, pubescent or glabrescent. |
prostrate, decumbent, or trailing, branched from base, 25–70 cm, uncinate-puberulent to -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. |
usually trifoliolate, rarely unifoliolate proximally; stipules persistent, reflexed, narrowly deltate, 3–5.5 mm; petiole 12–20 mm; leaflet blades pale green abaxially, broadly ovate to suborbiculate, apex obtuse, surfaces clearly reticulate-veined abaxially, prominently reticulate-veined adaxially, loosely strigulose or glabrescent abaxially, appressed, bulbous-pilose adaxially; terminal blade 20–45 × 15–25 mm, length 1.2–1.7 times width. |
Inflorescences | unbranched; rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 6–7 mm. |
terminal and unbranched; rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent and often bulbous-pilose; primary bracts ovate, 4.5–6.5 mm. |
Pedicels | persistent with calyx-remnant at top after loments drop, 5–9 mm. |
10–15 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 5–6 mm, pubescent, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 4–5 mm, lateral lobes 3–4 mm; corolla pink, lilac to purple, or greenish white, 7–8 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 crenate abaxially, strongly crenate adaxially; connections adaxial, 1/3 as broad as segments; segments (2 or)3–6, elliptic to suborbiculate, 4.5–8 × 3–5 mm, symmetrically rounded abaxially, convex adaxially, densely uncinate-pubescent throughout; stipe 3–3.5 mm. |
2n | = 22. |
= 22. |
Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium grahamii |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Pine-palmetto flatwoods, woodland borders, lawns, ruderal sites, disturbed or waste areas. | Pine, juniper, oak woodlands, grasslands, canyons, sandy alluvia along streams, moist areas, roadsides. |
Elevation | 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.) | 1600–2400 m. (5200–7900 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; TX; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, México, Puebla, Sonora, Tamaulipas)
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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 grahamii is known from the trans-Pecos region of Texas; it is also found in the southern half of Arizona, and southwestern New Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Desmodium | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Desmodium |
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 grahamii |
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): 48. (1853) — (as grahami) |
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