Pointed-leaved Tick-Trefoil

(Desmodium glutinosum)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of Derek Anderson, University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Pointed-leaved Tick-Trefoil (Desmodium glutinosum [Muhl. ex Willd.] Wood)

Identification: Plant erect. Flowers beaklike, lavender with lower petals elongate and projecting. Flowers widely scattered on a long flower stalk and each flower stalk with a long pedicel. Seedpods with 2 to 4 segments. Flower stem arises from the whorl of leaves. Leaves divided into three leaflets, top leaflet round with a sharply pointed apex. Leaves arranged in a whorl on the stem. Plant 1 to 4 feet in height.

Distribution: Throughout eastern North America and the plains region.

Habitat: Pointed-leaved Tick-Trefoil is a forest species.

Flowering period: July to August.

Similar Species: Naked-flowered Tick-Trefoil also has leaves arranged in a whorl. However the flower stalk arises from the base of the plant, not from the leaf whorl. In addition the top leaflet is usually not as round or sharply pointed as that of Pointed-leaved Tick-Trefoil.

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