Desmodium humifusum

Desmodium humifusum

Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Desmodium
Species: D. humifusum
Binomial name
Desmodium humifusum
(Muhl. ex Bigelow) Beck

Desmodium humifusum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names trailing tick-trefoil, eastern trailing tick-trefoil, and spreading tick-trefoil. It is native to the eastern United States, where it has been reduced to scattered populations in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Indiana. It once had a wider distribution but it has likely been extirpated from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and Missouri.[1]

This plant is prostrate, its hairy stems trailing up to 2 meters long. One plant may have a large number of stems. The alternately arranged leaves are each divided into 3 leaflets up to 7 centimeters long by 5 wide. The leaves have persistent stipules which may aid in identification. The inflorescence is a raceme of purple flowers nearly one centimeter long. Blooming occurs in July and August. The fruit is a legume pod jointed into three or four segments, with each segment up to 8 millimeters long. The segments are dispersed on animal fur. This species is probably a hybrid of Desmodium paniculatum and D. rotundifolium.[2]

This plant grows on sandy soils that originated from sandstone and chert. The habitat is often dominated by oaks,[3] and it may be a type of dry forest.[2]

References

  1. Desmodium humifusum. The Nature Conservancy.
  2. 1 2 Dolan, R. Conservation Assessment for Trailing tick-trefoil (Desmodium humifusum). USDA Forest Service, Eastern Region. September 30, 2004.
  3. Desmodium humifusum. Center for Plant Conservation.

External links

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