Desmodium viridiflorum |
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velvetleaf tickclover, velvetleaf ticktrefoil |
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Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial. |
Stems | erect, mostly unbranched, 30–300 cm, densely (sparsely in age) villosulous, also densely uncinate-puberulent and -pubescent. |
Leaves | trifoliolate; stipules caducous, narrowly ovate to ovate, 3–7 mm; petiole 15–40 mm; leaflet blades broadly ovate or broadly rhombic, base acute to cuneate or truncate, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces densely velvety or villous, especially on veins abaxially, uncinate-puberulent and obscurely strigose on veins adaxially; terminal blade 50–120(–150) × 35–90 mm, length 1–1.5(–2) times width. |
Inflorescences | branched or unbranched; rachis uncinate-pubescent and sparsely villous; primary bracts narrowly deltate, 3 mm, pilose. |
Pedicels | 3–9 mm. |
Flowers | calyx 2–3 mm, spreading-pilose, tube 2 mm; abaxial lobes 2.5–4.5 mm, lateral lobes 2–4 mm; corolla purple to pink or pallid lavender, 7–8 mm. |
Loments | sutures subdentate abaxially, sinuate adaxially; connections adaxial, 1/3–1/2 as broad as segments; segments (3 or)4 or 5, rhombic, 5–8(–9) × 3–3.5 mm, symmetrically angled abaxially, straight or convex adaxially, moderately to densely uncinate-puberulent throughout; stipe 3–6 mm. |
2n | = 22. |
Desmodium viridiflorum |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Open, often cutover woodlands and borders, old fields, roadsides. |
Elevation | 0–900 m. (0–3000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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Discussion | In Illinois, Desmodium viridiflorum is known only from Alexander County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Desmodium |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Hedysarum viridiflorum, Meibomia viridiflora |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 2: 329. (1825) |
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