Desmodium intortum |
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greenleaf ticktrefoil |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial. |
Stems | prostrate or climbing, branched, angular (3-sided), 40–200 cm, uncinate-pubescent and villous. |
Leaves | trifoliolate; stipules usually persistent, sometimes caducous, ovate-deltate, 5.5–12 mm; petiole 4–8 cm; leaflet blades ovate, elliptic to broadly ovate, or rhombic, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces more densely sericeous abaxially, sparsely to densely sericeous adaxially; terminal blade 35–100 × 24–60 mm, length 2.5–3 times width. |
Inflorescences | branched or unbranched; rachis patent-villous and uncinate-pubescent to puberulent; primary bracts densely imbricate before anthesis, caducous, narrowly ovate, 7–10 mm. |
Pedicels | 4–8 mm. |
Flowers | calyx 3–5 mm, sparsely puberulent throughout, lobes often villous, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 4–5.5 mm, lateral lobes 2.5–4 mm; corolla purple, fading blue-green, 7–9 mm. |
Loments | sutures crenate or somewhat angled abaxially, sinuate adaxially; connections adaxial, 1/2 as broad as segments; segments 5–9, semiorbiculate, 3–4 × 2–2.5 mm, obliquely rounded abaxially, slightly angled adaxially, uncinate-pubescent; stipe 1–2 mm. |
2n | = 22. |
Desmodium intortum |
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Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Open, grassy areas, roadsides. |
Elevation | 1000–1700 m. (3300–5600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Central America; Mexico (Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sonora, Veracruz) [Introduced in Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Australia] |
Discussion | In the flora area, Desmodium intortum is known only from Cochise County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Hedysarum intortum, D. sonorae, D. uncinatum, Meibomia intorta |
Name authority | (Miller) Urban: Symb. Antill. 8: 292. (1920) |
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