Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium triflorum |
|
|---|---|---|
|
creeping beggarweed, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-trefoil, zarzabacoa comun |
threeflower ticktrefoil |
|
| Habit | Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs, perennial; stoloniferous or rhizomatous. | Herbs, annual or perennial, often mat-forming; stoloniferous. |
| Stems | erect or ascending, to 300 cm, pubescent or glabrescent. |
prostrate, densely branched, 20–80 cm, ascending-pilose or strigose. |
| 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, narrowly ovate, 3–5 mm; petiole 3–7.5 mm; leaflet blades broadly obovate or cuneate-obovate, often folding downwards, apex emarginate, surfaces usually sparsely uncinate-puberulent or subappressed-pilose along midrib abaxially, rarely entire surface, glabrous adaxially; terminal blade 5–10 × 3–11 mm, length 0.8–1.2 times width. |
| Inflorescences | unbranched; rachis densely patent uncinate-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 6–7 mm. |
terminal fascicles opposite distal leaf, appearing axillary, unbranched; rachis pubescent; primary bracts narrowly ovate, 4 mm. |
| Pedicels | persistent with calyx-remnant at top after loments drop, 5–9 mm. |
8–12 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 2.5–3 mm, appressed-pubescent, tube 1.2 mm; abaxial lobes 1.5–1.7 mm, lateral lobes 1.5–1.7 mm, adaxial lobes deeply 2-toothed; corolla pale pink to purplish, 4–5 mm, keel distinctly longer than wings. |
| 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 weakly crenate abaxially, with broad connection between segments, barely sinuate adaxially; connections 2/3–4/5 as broad as segments; segments 3–5, nearly square, 2.5–3.5 × 2.5–3 mm, symmetrically convex abaxially, slightly concave adaxially, inconspicuously uncinate-pubescent or glabrescent; stipe 0 mm. |
| 2n | = 22. |
= 22. |
Desmodium incanum |
Desmodium triflorum |
|
| Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering year-round. |
| Habitat | Pine-palmetto flatwoods, woodland borders, lawns, ruderal sites, disturbed or waste areas. | Ruderal areas, lawns, disturbed open woodlands. |
| Elevation | 0–50 m. [0–160 ft.] | 0–50 m. [0–160 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]
|
FL; LA; Central America; South America; Mexico (Jalisco, Sinaloa); West Indies; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia] |
| 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.) |
Inflorescences of Desmodium triflorum are produced opposite the leaf at the distal end of stem and are usually described as axillary. The branching system of D. triflorum is a monopodial sympodium and the inflorescences are terminal (H. Ohashi and T. Nemoto 1986). Evolution of inflorescences in Desmodium is inferred from comparative morphology and anatomy with Campylotropis, Kummerowia, and Lespedeza (Nemoto and Ohashi 1990, 1993, 1996). Based on molecular and morphological data, H. Ohashi and K. Ohashi (2018) transferred Desmodium triflorum and the other species formerly in Desmodium sects. Nicolsonia (de Candolle) Bentham and Sagotia (Duchassaing & Walpers) Bentham to the genus Grona Loureiro. (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 triflorum, Grona triflora, Meibomia triflora, Sagotia triflora |
| Name authority | (Swartz) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 332. (1825) — name conserved | (Linnaeus) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 334. (1825) |
| Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
| Web links | ||