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creeping beggarweed, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-trefoil, zarzabacoa comun

Lindheimer's ticktrefoil

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
from FNA
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]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Chiapas, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas)
[BONAP county map]
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
D. arizonicum, D. batocaulon, D. canadense, D. canescens, D. cinerascens, D. cuspidatum, D. floridanum, D. grahamii, D. gramineum, D. illinoense, D. intortum, D. laevigatum, D. lindheimeri, D. lineatum, D. marilandicum, D. metcalfei, D. nuttallii, D. ochroleucum, D. paniculatum, D. procumbens, D. psilocarpum, D. psilophyllum, D. retinens, D. rosei, D. rotundifolium, D. scopulorum, D. scorpiurus, D. sessilifolium, D. strictum, D. tenuifolium, D. tortuosum, D. triflorum, D. tweedyi, D. viridiflorum, D. ×humifusum
D. arizonicum, D. batocaulon, D. canadense, D. canescens, D. cinerascens, D. cuspidatum, D. floridanum, D. grahamii, D. gramineum, D. illinoense, D. incanum, D. intortum, D. laevigatum, D. lineatum, D. marilandicum, D. metcalfei, D. nuttallii, D. ochroleucum, D. paniculatum, D. procumbens, D. psilocarpum, D. psilophyllum, D. retinens, D. rosei, D. rotundifolium, D. scopulorum, D. scorpiurus, D. sessilifolium, D. strictum, D. tenuifolium, D. tortuosum, D. triflorum, D. tweedyi, D. viridiflorum, D. ×humifusum
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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