Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Desmodium laevigatum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Smooth Tick-trefoil from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
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, 1938)
Meibomia laevigata
COMMON NAME:
Smooth Tick-trefoil
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_mela8_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm140724_086
July Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
)
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 jkm140804_359
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
)
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_4795
September Greenville County SC
)
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
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1177
September Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1178
September Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1180
September Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm190903_1182
September Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm151006_341
October Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
)
JK Marlow jkm151006_342
October Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
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, 1938)
Meibomia laevigata
447
Forb
Perennial
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC
Common (uncommon in GA)
Look for it in dry oak and pine forests, fields, woodland borders, disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Click here to see a more detailed map from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium,
or click here to see a map from SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
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!
- Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses p052
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast p334
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains p082
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region p076