| Dicotyledon | Literature for Desmodium uncinatum
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2020. |
| Fabaceae -- The Pea Family | Bibliography |
| Desmodium uncinatum | |
Common name(s): tick clover, tick trefoil, chili clover, kikania pipili, pilipili `ula (Ni`ihau), pua pilipili, Spanish clover |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to South America, naturalized on some Pacific islands including the Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands, and Tonga.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Midway, Ni`ihau, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Hawai`i. | |
| Habit |
Erect or spreading herb or subshrub, 3–9 dm tall; stems moderately to densely pubescent with long and minute hooked hairs and sparsely longer pubescent. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves trifoliolate, petiolate; leaflets ovate to narrowly ovate, terminal one 2.5–8 cm long, 1.5–3.5 cm wide, adaxial surface glabrous or nearly so and sometimes with a pale whitish mark along midrib, abaxial surface moderately to densely appressed pubescent, apex acute or sometimes obtuse, base obtuse or somewhat cuneate; petiole 1.5–4 cm long. |
|
| Flowers |
Inflorescences racemose, 5–15 cm long, flowers numerous, rachis densely pubescent with minute and long hooked hairs. Flowers on pedicel 5–7 mm long, deciduous with articles, pubescence same as rachis; corolla pink or sometimes white, 8–9 mm long. |
|
| Fruit |
Fruit subsessile, (4–)6–8-jointed, 2.5–4 cm long, densely pubescent with hooked hairs, articles depressed obovate, 4–5 mm long, 3–4 mm wide. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 22. |
|
| Contributor |
Nancy Khan |
