Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium lindheimeri |
|
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creeping beggarweed, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-trefoil, zarzabacoa comun |
Lindheimer's ticktrefoil |
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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. |
erect, branched, angled and grooved, 40–60 cm, uncinate-puberulent and -pubescent, also sparsely 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 ± persistent, reflexed, broadly or obliquely ovate, 7–8 mm, base subamplexicaul; petiole 10–50 mm; leaflet blades usually ovate, rhombic to broadly ovate, or semiorbiculate, rarely narrowly ovate, base truncate or broadly obtuse, apex acute, surfaces densely villosulous abaxially, uncinate-puberulent and pilose adaxially; terminal blade 50–100 × 40–75 mm, length usually less than 2 times width. |
Inflorescences | unbranched; rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 6–7 mm. |
usually unbranched; rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent; primary bracts broadly ovate, 4.5–7 mm. |
Pedicels | persistent with calyx-remnant at top after loments drop, 5–9 mm. |
5 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 2–2.5 mm, uncinate-puberulent, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 1–1.5 mm, lateral lobes 0.7 mm; corolla blue-green, 6–7 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. |
margins ± involute and contorted, sutures deeply crenate abaxially, shallowly dentate adaxially; connections central, 1/5 as broad as segments; segments (1–)3–5, subrhombic to semiovate, 7–15 × 5–8 mm, rounded abaxially, obtusely angled adaxially, glabrous, sutures densely uncinate-pubescent; stipe 2–3.5 mm. |
2n | = 22. |
|
Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium lindheimeri |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Pine-palmetto flatwoods, woodland borders, lawns, ruderal sites, disturbed or waste areas. | Rocky ravines, oak-juniper woodlands. |
Elevation | 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.) | 200–300 m. (700–1000 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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TX; Mexico (Chiapas, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas) |
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.) |
Desmodium lindheimeri resembles D. canescens and its relatives, especially D. ochroleucum, in having relatively large loments. It is common in its narrow range in the Edwards Plateau (Comal County) and is widespread in Mexico (M. Enquist 1995). (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 lindheimeri |
Name authority | (Swartz) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 332. (1825) — name conserved | Vail: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 18: 120. (1891) |
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