Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Desmodium canescens
FAMILY
Fabaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Hoary Tick-trefoil from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Desmodium canescens
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Desmodium canescens
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-26-006:
Desmodium canescens FAMILY Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Meibomia canescens
COMMON NAME:
Hoary Tick-trefoil
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_meca16_001_lvd
)
Terry Holdsclaw tdh_desmodium_canescens_1
July Iredell County NC
)
Terry Holdsclaw tdh_desmodium_canescens_3
July Iredell County NC
)
JK Marlow jkm190802_0524
August Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Stems 6-15dm tall, densely spreading-pilose and uncinulate-puberulent, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm190802_0525
August Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_d_canescens_5_s
August
Inflorescence typically villous as well as uncinulate-puberulent, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1193
September Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Stipules ovate to ovate-lanceolate, with a wide partially clasping base, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1196
September Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1198
September Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1200
September Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Petiole much longer than stalk of terminal leaflet, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1201
September Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Corolla 9-13 mm long [in other words, relatively large for a Desmodium!], per Leguminosae (Fabaceae), vol 3, part 2, Vascular flora of the southeastern United States (Isely, 1990).
COMPARE
Beggar's Lice (Tick-trefoil) species
)
Terry Holdsclaw tdh_desmodium_canescens_2
September Iredell County NC
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Desmodium canescens
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Desmodium canescens
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Desmodium canescens
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-26-006:
Desmodium canescens
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Meibomia canescens
446
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Fields, woodland borders, disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (rare in Coastal Plain)
Click here to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
LEAVES:
Odd-pinnately compound: 3 leaflets
Alternate
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rose-purplish
(rarely white)
Bilaterally symmetrical
2-lipped calyx
5-parted papilionaceous corolla
10 stamens, diadelphous, 9 and 1
Superior ovary
Flowers in terminal panicles
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Loment with 4 or more angular segments
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p062
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p333
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p036
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p082