Desmodium scorpiurus |
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scorpion ticktrefoil |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial. |
Stems | slender, procumbent or decumbent, 20–100 cm, densely patent uncinate-puberulent and/or inconspicuously pilose. |
Leaves | trifoliolate; stipules persistent, obliquely ovate, 2–3.5 mm, base auriculate, amplexicaul; petiole 10–20 mm; leaflet blades usually ovate to shortly elliptic, rarely narrowly elliptic, apex obtuse, surfaces appressed-pubescent; terminal blade usually 10–35(–50) × 7–30 mm, length (1.5–)2–3 times width. |
Inflorescences | lax-flowered, terminal and axillary, usually unbranched; rachis densely spreading-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 1.5–2 mm. |
Pedicels | 3–10 mm. |
Flowers | calyx 1.5–2.5 mm, pilose, tube 1 mm; abaxial lobes 1.5 mm, lateral lobes 0.7–1 mm; corolla lavender-pink or reddish purple, banner with yellow spots, 4–5 mm. |
Loments | turgid, straight or curved, linear; sutures equally shallow-undulate; connections central, 2/3–3/4 as broad as segments; segments 5–10, narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, 4–5 × 1.5 mm, rugose, not reticulate, symmetrically convex abaxially and adaxially, densely uncinate-pubescent throughout; stipe 1 mm. |
Desmodium scorpiurus |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. |
Habitat | Waste places, lawns. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL; Central America; South America; Mexico (Durango, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Sonora, Veracruz); West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia] |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Hedysarum scorpiurus, Meibomia scorpiurus |
Name authority | (Swartz) Poiret in F. Cuvier: Dict. Sci. Nat. ed. 2, 13: 110. (1819) |
Web links |