| Dicotyledon | Literature for Desmodium incanum
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2020. |
| Fabaceae -- The Pea Family | Bibliography |
| Desmodium incanum | |
Common name(s): tick clover, tick trefoil, ka`imi, Spanish clover |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to tropical and subtropical America, now widespread in Asia and Africa.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i. | |
| Habit |
Prostrate, ascending, or erect herb, subshrub, or shrub to 10 dm tall; stems pubescent with spreading hooked and longer straight hairs, glabrate. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves trifoliolate, petiolate; leaflets subcoriaceous, usually elliptic or narrowly elliptic, terminal one 4–9 cm, long, 1.5–4.5 cm wide, lateral veins conspicuous, adaxial surface with minute hooked and straight hairs and sometimes with a pale whitish mark along midrib, abaxial surface densely appressed pubescent, apex obtuse or often acute; petiole 1–4 cm long. |
|
| Flowers |
Inflorescences racemose, flowers numerous, 5–12 cm long, rachis densely pubescent with minute hooked hairs. Flowers on pedicel 3–10 mm long, persistent after articles fall, pubescent with minute hooked hair; corolla pink to purplish, 5–6 mm long. |
|
| Fruit |
Fruit stipitate, (3)4–5(–8)-jointed, (2–)2.5–3(–4) cm long, densely pubescent with hooked hairs, articles nearly semicircular, 4–5 mm long, ca. 3 mm wide. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 22. |
|
| Contributor |
Nancy Khan |
