Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Smooth Tick-trefoil from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
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Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Desmodium laevigatum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Desmodium laevigatum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-26-017:
Desmodium laevigatum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
Meibomia laevigata
COMMON NAME:
Smooth Tick-trefoil
To see a detailed map, click here
Look for it in dry oak and pine forests, fields, woodland borders, disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Forb
Perennial
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Documented growing wild in
GA
NC
SC
Common (uncommon in GA)
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 3-5 angular segments
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
Desmodium laevigatum FAMILY Fabaceae
Smooth Tick-trefoil
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Smooth Tick-trefoil from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Click the thumbnails to see larger pictures.
JK Marlow jkm140724_088
July Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Terminal leaflets ovate to elliptic-ovate or elliptic-oblong, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
JK Marlow jkm140724_091
July Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Stems and leaves glabrous, per Weakley's Flora (2012).
JK Marlow jkm140804_357
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Leaflets distinctly pale on the lower surface, per Weakley's Flora (2012).
COMPARE
Beggar's Lice (Tick-trefoil) species
JK Marlow jkm140822_964b
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
The two fused petals of the keel enfold ten stamens and a pistil, per Book of Field and Roadside.
JK Marlow jkm140822_964c
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
An insect's probing will snap down the keel, jerking the stamens loose, per Book of Field and Roadside.
JK Marlow jkm140822_964d
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Petals 8-10mm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
JK Marlow jkm140822_964e
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Calyx densely puberulent & 2-lipped, upper lip scarcely bifid, lower 3-dentate, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
JK Marlow jkm140909_622
September Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Loment of 2-5 subrhombic segments, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
JK Marlow jkm180918_4797
September Greenville County SC
Loment's upper sutures straight or slightly convex, lower abruptly angled, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
COMPARE
loments of Desmodium species