Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Florida Tick-trefoil - Desmodium tortuosum   (Swartz) de Candolle
Members of Fabaceae:
Members of Desmodium with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Fabales » Family Fabaceae
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Author(Swartz) de Candolle
DistributionSandhills and Coastal Plain. A specimen from Orange County is misidentified; another was grown at the old Soil Conservation Service nursery.

Native of the Neotropics and south-central US; adventive eastward. Presumed not to be native in NC, though Weakley's (2018) map shows it as of uncertain provenance in all Southeastern states.
AbundanceGenerally uncommon within its range in the southern half of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills. Seldom collected these days.
HabitatDry to xeric sandy soil of roadsides, old fields, disturbed Longleaf Pine sand ridges.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-October.
IdentificationThis Desmodium is most notable for the long pods, which have 3-6 rounded or elliptical segments in a straight line -- both the top and bottom sides of the segments are rounded. Otherwise, it is a rather typical-looking Desmodium species -- with a need to see the legumes to clinch the identification.
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE?
Global RankG5
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcpFAC link
USACE-empFACU link
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B.A. SorrieYucatan Peninsula, Mexico, December 2019. ScotlandPhoto_non_natural
Tracy FeldmanDisturbed area, October 2020. ScotlandPhoto_non_natural

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