Slender Bush Clover

(Lespedeza virginica)

 

   

 

 

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.

 

Slender Bush Clover (Lespedeza virginica [L.] Britt.)

Identification: A tall, usually erect, heavily branched plant. Flowers pealike, pink to pink-purple. Flowers crowded close to the stem in the upper leaf axils. Stem smooth. Leaves with 3 leaflets. Leaflets small, elongate, and the leaf, as a whole, with a short petiole and crowded close to the stem. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Wisconsin in the west eastward to New England and southward to Florida and Texas.

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

Flowering period: July to September.

Similar Species: Slender Bush Clover is similar to Wandlike Bush Clover and Stueve's Bush Clover. However the leaflets are much narrower than those of either of these two species.

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