Desmodium scorpiurus |
Desmodium psilocarpum |
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scorpion ticktrefoil |
Santa Cruz Island ticktrefoil |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial. | Herbs or shrubs, perennial. |
Stems | slender, procumbent or decumbent, 20–100 cm, densely patent uncinate-puberulent and/or inconspicuously pilose. |
erect or ascending, branched, 40–100 cm, slightly uncinate-pubescent and pilose or glabrescent. |
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. |
trifoliolate; stipules mostly persistent, broadly ovate, 4–10 mm, base subamplexicaul; petiole 30–40 mm; leaflet blades broadly ovate-elliptic or ovate to narrowly ovate, apex acute, surfaces uncinate-puberulent; terminal blade 20–70(–100) × 10–20(–50) mm, length 1.8–2 times width. |
Inflorescences | lax-flowered, terminal and axillary, usually unbranched; rachis densely spreading-pubescent; primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 1.5–2 mm. |
branched or unbranched; rachis bulbous-villous and uncinate-puberulent; primary bracts caducous, subulate, 1 mm. |
Pedicels | 3–10 mm. |
10–20 mm, patent uncinate-pubescent. |
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. |
calyx 1.5–2 mm, pilose and uncinate-puberulent, tube 0.8 mm; abaxial lobes 1 mm, lateral lobes 0.8–1 mm; corolla pink-purple, fading greenish, 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. |
sutures subequally deeply crenate; connections central, 1/8–1/7 as broad as segments; segments 3–6, rounded, 6–10 × 5–7 mm, rounded, sparsely pubescent, at least on sutures; stipe 1(–2) mm. |
Desmodium scorpiurus |
Desmodium psilocarpum |
|
Phenology | Flowering year-round. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Waste places, lawns. | Woodland, grasslands, canyon slopes, streamsides. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) | 1000–2000 m. (3300–6600 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] |
AZ; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas) |
Discussion | Desmodium psilocarpum is known in the flora area from southern Arizona and adjacent southwestern New Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Hedysarum scorpiurus, Meibomia scorpiurus | Meibomia psilocarpa |
Name authority | (Swartz) Poiret in F. Cuvier: Dict. Sci. Nat. ed. 2, 13: 110. (1819) | A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 48. (1853) |
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