Trailing Bush Clover

(Lespedeza procumbens)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

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

 

Trailing Bush Clover (Lespedeza procumbens Michx.)

Identification: A trailing plant that sends up erect or nearly erect flower branches. Flowers pealike, with upper banner deeply tinged with lavender, other petals whiter, but also tinged with lavender or violet. Flowers in irregular racemes on an erect flowering branch. Stem hairy. Leaves with 3 leaflets, rounded to slightly elongate.

Distribution: Wisconsin in the west to Massachusetts in the east, southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Trailing Bush Clover is a species of dry woods and forest clearings.

Flowering period: August to October.

Similar Species: Creeping Bush Clover is nearly identical to this species. However the plant is somewhat more slender and the stems are smooth, not hairy.

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