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Desmodium psilocarpum A.Gray

Santa cruz island ticktrefoil (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Desmodium

Characteristics

Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets 0.7–5.5 × 0.4–3.5 cm (up to 3 × 1.5 cm in African material seen), elliptic to ovate, rounded to subacute and mucronulate at the apex, rounded at the base, finely puberulous and with some longer hairs on the venation, distinctly ciliate around the margin; petiole 0.6–3 cm long with rhachis almost equal in length; stipules 5–12 mm long, obliquely ovate-attenuate.
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Fruits with 1–5 articles joined centrally, each article 7–8.5 × 5–6 mm when mature, elliptic, strongly reticulate, puberulous.
Inflorescences axillary and terminal 10–23 cm long; bracts and bracteoles conspicuous in young stage but soon deciduous.
Thinly woody shrub to 90 cm tall; young stems pubescent with short hooked hairs, becoming glabrous.
Seeds pale brown, 3.5 × 2.5 × 0.8 mm, ellipsoid, very compressed; hilum minute, not quite central.
Calyx tube 1 mm long; lobes 2 mm long, narrowly triangular.
Corolla c. 5 mm long.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.55 - 0.65
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer rhizobia
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Light 7-9
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 5-12

Usage

Uses animal food environmental use
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 30 - 90
Germination temperacture (C°) 23 - 26
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Desmodium psilocarpum world distribution map, present in United States of America and Zambia

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:492039-1
WFO ID wfo-0000170354
COL ID 6CNWT
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Desmodium psilocarpum Meibomia psilocarpa
WorldFloraDB 2024