Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Perplexing Tick-trefoil from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
3465
Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (6/30/18):
Desmodium perplexum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Desmodium perplexum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Desmodium glabellum
INCLUDED WITHIN
Guide to the Vascular Plants of the Blue Ridge (Wofford, 1989)
Desmodium paniculatum var. dillenii
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-26-023:
Desmodium perplexum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
(?)
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
Meibomia dillenii
COMMON NAME:
Perplexing Tick-trefoil, Dillen's Tick-trefoil
To see a detailed map, click here
Look for it in fields, woodland borders, hammocks, disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Forb
Perennial
Native to the Carolinas & possibly Georgia
Documented growing wild in
GA
NC
SC
Common (uncommon in GA Mountains & Piedmont, rare in GA Coastal Plain)
LEAVES:
Odd-pinnately compound: 3 leaflets
Alternate
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rose-purplish
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 usually 2-4 broadly rhombic to triangular segments?
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
Desmodium perplexum FAMILY Fabaceae
Perplexing Tick-trefoil, Dillen's Tick-trefoil
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Perplexing Tick-trefoil from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Click the thumbnails to see larger pictures.
JK Marlow jkm190604_8972
June Greenville County SC
This & D. glabellum are most typical yet most difficult to separate in NC, per Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
JK Marlow jkm190604_8973
June Greenville County SC
Variously sunken into D. paniculatum, D. glabellum, or called D. dillenii, per Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
JK Marlow jkm190604_8974
June Greenville County SC
Leaflets broadly to narrowly ovate, 3-9cm, 1.5-3(3.5) as long as wide, per Leguminosae (Fabaceae), vol 3, part 2, Vascular flora of the southeastern United States (Isely, 1990).
COMPARE
Beggar's Lice (Tick-trefoil) species
JK Marlow jkm190604_8975
June Greenville County SC
Leaf surfaces usually moderately short-pubescent to pilose or upper glabrate, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
JK Marlow jkm190618_9259
June Greenville County SC
Stems usually pilose (vs D. glabellum's stem pubescence typically uncinate), per Leguminosae (Fabaceae), vol 3, part 2, Vascular flora of the southeastern United States (Isely, 1990).
JK Marlow jkm190903_1190
September Greenville County SC
Corolla 6-8(9)mm long, per Leguminosae (Fabaceae), vol 3, part 2, Vascular flora of the southeastern United States (Isely, 1990).
JK Marlow jkm190905_13311332
September Greenville County SC
Loment densely uncinulate-puberulent, stipe 3-5mm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
JK Marlow jkm190905_13311332b
September Greenville County SC
Loment of usually 2-4 broadly rhombic to triangular segments, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.