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

cream ticktrefoil

Habit Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs, perennial; stoloniferous or rhizomatous. Herbs, perennial.
Stems

erect or ascending, to 300 cm, pubescent or glabrescent.

decumbent or prostrate, 50–100 cm, patent-villous and uncinate-puberulent.

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;

stipules persistent, reflexed in age, deltate or ovate, 5–12 mm, base obliquely cordate, subamplexicaul;

petiole 10–35 mm;

leaflet blades ovate, ± leathery, apex obtuse or sometimes acute, surfaces prominently reticulate-veined adaxially, uncinate-puberulent on veins or glabrescent abaxially, uncinate-puberulent adaxially;

terminal blade 30–75 × 22–53 mm, length 1.2–2 times width.

Inflorescences

unbranched;

rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent;

primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 6–7 mm.

ascending to erect, axillary distally and unbranched, sometimes also terminal and branched;

rachis pilose and uncinate-puberulent;

primary bracts caducous, broadly ovate, 5–6 mm.

Pedicels

persistent with calyx-remnant at top after loments drop, 5–9 mm.

10–20 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, pilose and uncinate-puberulent, tube 1 mm;

abaxial lobes 3 mm, lateral lobes 1.2–1.5 mm, to 2.5 mm in fruit;

corolla white or ochroleucous, 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 deeply crenate abaxially, crenate adaxially, contorted by irregular folding of margins near or at connection between segments;

connections adaxial, 1/5–1/4 as broad as segments;

segments 3–5, suborbiculate to subrhombic, 7–10 × 5–8 mm, symmetrically rounded abaxially, convex adaxially, glabrous, sutures uncinate-pubescent;

stipe 0 mm (or indistinctly stipitate by narrowing proximal segment).

2n

= 22.

Desmodium incanum

Desmodium ochroleucum

Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Pine-palmetto flatwoods, woodland borders, lawns, ruderal sites, disturbed or waste areas. Open woodland, roadsides.
Elevation 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.) 30–500 m. (100–1600 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
AL; DC; DE; FL; GA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; TN; VA
[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.)

The range of Desmodium ochroleucum is highly fragmented, and only about a dozen populations are known. Fire suppression may have been responsible for closing the canopy in forests in which D. ochroleucum is usually found (R. W. Tyndall and P. L. Groller 2006).

(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. lindheimeri, D. lineatum, D. marilandicum, D. metcalfei, D. nuttallii, 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 ochroleuca
Name authority (Swartz) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 332. (1825) — name conserved M. A. Curtis ex Canby: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 16: 17. (1864)
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