Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Hylodesmum nudiflorum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Naked Tick-trefoil from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Desmodium nudiflorum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Desmodium nudiflorum
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-26-001:
Desmodium nudiflorum FAMILY Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Meibomia nudiflora
COMMON NAME:
Naked Tick-trefoil, Naked-flowered Tick Trefoil, Woodland Tick-trefoil
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_menu2_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm060506_027
May Oconee County SC
Clemson Forest
Leaflets ovate to obovate, to 4" long, crowded at top of the sterile branch, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm170624_255
June Oconee County SC
Sumter National Forest: Andrew Pickens Ranger District
)
JK Marlow jkm170624_271
June Oconee County SC
Sumter National Forest: Andrew Pickens Ranger District
)
JK Marlow jkm0507j_27
July Greenville County SC
Wildcat Falls Wayside Park
)
JK Marlow jkm120727_942
July Spartanburg County SC
Flowers of the Bean Family are of a unique form known as "papilionaceous", per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm220715_9104
July Greenville County SC
Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230717_4468
July Greenville County SC
Landrum Watershed
Rose-purple, pea-like flowers in a loose raceme on a leafless scape, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
COMPARE
Beggar's Lice (Tick-trefoil) species
)
JK Marlow jkm230720_4655
July Greenville County SC
Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve
Legume (loment) straight across one edge and scalloped along the other, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
COMPARE
loments of Desmodium species
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdmdnudiflorum_home
Month Unknown Anderson County SC
Fertile stems to about 30" tall, typically erect at first, leaning with age, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdmdnudiflorum_home2
Month Unknown Anderson County SC
Stem forked at base: sterile branch to 12" tall and leafless scape to 40", per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Hylodesmum nudiflorum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Desmodium nudiflorum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Desmodium nudiflorum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-26-001:
Desmodium nudiflorum
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Meibomia nudiflora
449
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Moist to dry forests, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Odd-pinnately compound: 3 leaflets
Whorl-like cluster
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Rose-purplish
(rarely white)
Bilaterally symmetrical
2-lipped calyx
5-parted papilionaceous corolla
10 monadelphous stamens
Superior ovary
Inflorescence a loose raceme
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Loment with (1-)2-4 segments
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p084
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p036
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p337
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p127
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p194
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p133
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p170
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p361
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p081
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p143
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