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Dixie tick trefoil

Habit Herbs, perennial.
Stems

erect, 50–200 cm, medially uncinate-pubescent and patent-villous.

Leaves

trifoliolate;

stipules persistent, often patent or reflexed, obliquely ovate and apex acuminate or narrowly ovate and apex aristate, 3–12.5 mm, base amplexicaul;

petiole 8–50 mm;

leaflet blades narrowly ovate to ovate, elliptic, or rhombic, apex obtuse or acute, surfaces obscurely prominently reticulate-veined abaxially, uncinate-puberulent and strigose or subappressed-villous;

terminal blade (20–)40–150 × 10–50 mm, length 2–3 times width.

Inflorescences

branched or unbranched;

rachis villous (often with bulbous hairs) and uncinate-puberulent, or only uncinate-puberulent;

primary bracts caducous, narrowly ovate, 4 mm.

Pedicels

10–15 mm.

Flowers

calyx 1.5–3 mm, uncinate-puberulent, tube to 1 mm;

abaxial lobes 2 mm, lateral lobes 1 mm;

corolla lavender, 4–6 mm.

Loments

margins alternately involute and revolute, sutures equally crenate, twisted conspicuously when young;

connections central, 1/4 as broad as segments;

segments (3 or)4–7, orbiculate, broadly elliptic, or rhombic, 3–4.5 × 3–3.5 mm, rounded abaxially and adaxially, densely uncinate-pubescent;

stipe 0.5–1 mm.

2n

= 22.

Desmodium tortuosum

Phenology Flowering summer–fall (year-round).
Habitat Open, dis­turbed sites, ruderal areas, pinelands, savannas.
Elevation 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Central America; South America; Mexico (Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Sonora); West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia, Africa, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia]
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Desmodium tortuosum is most easily distinguished from its relatives by the thick leaflets with prominent reticulate venation, the large persistent stipules, and the long, stiff, ascending to spreading pedicels (B. G. Schubert 1980).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Desmodium
Sibling taxa
D. arizonicum, D. batocaulon, D. canadense, D. canescens, D. cinerascens, D. cuspidatum, D. floridanum, D. grahamii, D. gramineum, D. illinoense, D. incanum, D. intortum, D. laevigatum, D. lindheimeri, D. lineatum, D. marilandicum, D. metcalfei, D. nuttallii, D. ochroleucum, D. paniculatum, D. procumbens, D. psilocarpum, D. psilophyllum, D. retinens, D. rosei, D. rotundifolium, D. scopulorum, D. scorpiurus, D. sessilifolium, D. strictum, D. tenuifolium, D. triflorum, D. tweedyi, D. viridiflorum, D. ×humifusum
Synonyms Hedysarum tortuosum, Meibomia purpurea, M. tortuosa
Name authority (Swartz) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 332. (1825)
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