Desmodium marilandicum |
Desmodium psilophyllum |
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Maryland tickclover, smooth small-leaf tick-trefoil |
simple-leaf tick trefoil |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial. | Herbs, perennial. | ||||||||
Stems | ascending to erect, usually striate, branched or unbranched, 30–150 cm, glabrous or sparsely to densely uncinate-puberulent, sometimes also patent long-pilose. |
ascending to erect, branched, 30–80 cm, inconspicuously uncinate-puberulent or glabrescent. |
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Leaves | trifoliolate; stipules caducous or moderately persistent, subulate to narrowly ovate, 2–5 mm; petiole 1–30 mm; leaflet blades narrowly ovate, elliptic, elliptic-ovate, ovate-rhombic, or suborbiculate, apex obtuse or acute, mucronulate, surfaces sparsely to densely uncinate-puberulent and appressed-villous abaxially, uncinate-puberulent or glabrescent adaxially; terminal blade 9–75 × 6–33 mm, length 1.5–4(–5) times width. |
unifoliolate; stipules ± persistent, narrowly ovate-deltate, 3–3.5 mm; petiole 6–11 mm; leaflet blades ovate to narrowly ovate, 30–80 × 10–30 mm, length (2–)2.5–5 times width, apex acute or obtuse, with paler patches along midrib adaxially, surfaces uncinate-puberulent and villous. |
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Inflorescences | terminal and branched, axillary and unbranched; rachis uncinate-puberulent; primary bracts ovate, 1.5–3 mm. |
often numerous, slender and flexuous, branched or unbranched; rachis densely uncinate-puberulent and villous; primary bracts narrowly ovate, 1–2 mm. |
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Pedicels | 3–19 mm, uncinate-puberulent. |
4–10 mm. |
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Flowers | calyx 1.5–2.5 mm, pubescent (not uncinate-puberulent), tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 1.2–1.5 mm, lateral lobes 1 mm; corolla usually lavender to red-violet or pink-purple, rarely white, 4–6 mm. |
calyx 2.5–3 mm, puberulent and sparsely pilose, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 2–3 mm, lateral lobes 2 mm, adaxial connate nearly to apex; corolla pink to purple, 4–5 mm. |
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Loments | sutures crenate abaxially, sinuate adaxially; connections adaxial, 1/4–1/2 as broad as segments; segments 1–4, broadly elliptic, 3.5–5.5 × 2.5–4 mm, rounded abaxially, convex adaxially, uncinate-puberulent throughout; stipe 1–2 mm. |
margins slightly involute when young, sutures crenate abaxially, sinuate adaxially; connections adaxial, 1/5 as broad as segments; segments 3–5, elliptic to obovate, 2.5–6 × 3–3.5 mm, rounded abaxially, convex adaxially, sparsely uncinate-puberulent, sutures glabrous; stipe 1.5–2.5 mm. |
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2n | = 22. |
= 22. |
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Desmodium marilandicum |
Desmodium psilophyllum |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Mountain woodlands, creek beds, terraces. | |||||||||
Elevation | 1000–2200 m. (3300–7200 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution |
e United States; sc United States; West Indies
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AZ; TX; Mexico (Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Hidalgo, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Zacatecas)
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Desmodium ciliare, D. lancifolium, and D. marilandicum have generally been recognized as closely related but distinct species in floras of the United States. They commonly have two or three articulate, small loments. D. Isely (1990, 1998) grouped them as the D. ciliare Group and regarded forms intermediate between them as putative hybrids: D. ciliare × D. marilandicum and D. ciliare × D. lancifolium. They have been separated by differences in the leaflets and pubescence, but the differences are not always clear. They are treated here as one species with three varieties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Desmodium psilophyllum is known in the flora area from southern Arizona to western and central Texas at the edge of Edwards Plateau; it is not known from New Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Hedysarum marilandicum, Meibomia marilandica | Meibomia psilophylla | ||||||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 328. (1825) — (as marylandicum) | Schlechtendal: Linnaea 12: 310. (1838) | ||||||||
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