PULSE FAMILY 



LEGUMINOSAE 



POINTED-LEAVED TICK TREFOIL 



Desmodium grandiflorum (Walt.) DC. 



The Pointed-leaved Tick Trefoil is an erect perennial herb 

 1-5 feet high. It is found in rich or dry woods from Quebec to 

 Ontario and South Dakota, south to Oklahoma and Florida, 



and blooms from June 

 to September. The 

 leaves are clustered 

 at the summit of the 

 stem; above them 

 arises the long naked 

 peduncle of the in- 

 florescence. The leaf- 

 lets have scattered 

 hairs on both sur- 

 faces. 



The purple butter- 

 fly-shaped flowers are 

 in wide-spreading 

 panicles and have an 

 obovate standard and 

 wing petals of the 

 same shape, a straight 

 keel, and 10 stamens 



of which 9 are united and the tenth adherent only at the base. 



The mature pod is 2 or 3-jointed and long stalked within the 



calyx. The joints are somewhat longer than broad and well 



covered with hooked hairs. 



A most striking and easih^ identified member of this genus is 

 the Naked-flowered Tick Trefoil, Desmodium nudiflorum (L.) DC, 

 common practically throughout Illinois. The leaves are crowded 

 at the summit of stems that bear no flowers. The inflorescence is 

 a raceme on a mostly leafless stalk or scape 24-+0 inches high. The 

 1-4-jointed pod is raised on a stalk many times longer than the 

 calyx. 



The Few-flowered Tick Trefoil, Drsmodium paiiciflorum 

 (Nutt.) DC, forms with D. grandiflorum and D. nudiflorum, 

 above, a natural group of the genus which differs markedly from 

 the other species. The flowers of D. pauciflorum are medium to 

 large, on long peduncles, and the pods have conspicuous, tightly 

 clinging joints. The leaves are single or two alternate. 



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