Desmodium purpureum

• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Description

Genus Desmodium

Herbs, undershrubs or shrubs , prostrate to erect . Leaf 1-5-foliolate, leaflets petiolulate , stipels 1 in lateral and 2 in terminal leaflet; stipules free or united , striate and ciliate . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , raceme or panicle or subumbellate. Bract striate and pubescent . Calyx 2-lipped, the upper lobe bifid, the lower 3 toothed or the calyx equally 5-lobed. Corolla exceeding the calyx. Stamens monadelphous or diadelphous , 9+1, anthers uniform . Ovary sessile or stipitate , ovules 2 to many. Fruit sessile or stipitate, transversely jointed , articles variously shaped, glabrous to densely pubescent, hairs straight or hooked .

A genus with about 300-350 species distributed in tropical and temperate areas of the world except Europe, New Zealand.[1]

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Desmodium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 83 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

D. adscendens (Matite) · D. affine (Amor Seco) · D. angustifolium (Grass-Leaf Tick Trefoil) · D. arizonicum (Arizona Tick Trefoil) · D. axillare (Zarzabacoa De Monte) · D. axillare var. acutifolium (Zarzabacoa De Monte) · D. axillare var. axillare (Zarzabacoa De Monte) · D. axillare var. stoloniferum (Zarzabacoa De Monte) · D. barbatum (Zarzabacoa Peluda) · D. batocaulon (San Pedro Tick Trefoil) · D. cajanifolium (Tropical Tick Trefoil) · D. canadense (Beggar's Lice) · D. canescens (Hoary Tick-Trefoil) · D. ciliare (Hairy Small-Leaf Tick Trefoil) · D. cinerascens (Spiked Tick Trefoil) · D. cubense (Cuban Tick Trefoil) · D. cuspidatum (Large-Bract Tick Trefoil) · D. cuspidatum var. cuspidatum (Largebract Ticktrefoil) · D. cuspidatum var. longifolium (Largebract Ticktrefoil) · D. discolor (Horse Marmalade) · D. discolor var. discolor (Horse Marmalade) · D. discolor var. villosum (Horse Marmalade) · D. fernaldii (Fernald's Tick-Trefoil) · D. floridanum (Florida Tick Trefoil) · D. glabellum (Dillen Tick-Trefoil) · D. glabrum (Tick Trefoil) · D. glutinosum (Large Tick-Trefoil) · D. grahamii (Graham's Tick Trefoil) · D. gunnii (Southern Tick Trefoil) · D. heterocarpon (Asian Tick Trefoil) · D. heterocarpon birmanicum (Ea Ea) · D. heterocarpon heterocarpon (Asian Ticktrefoil) · D. heterocarpon var. heterocarpon (Carpon Desmodium) · D. heterocarpon var. strigosum (Asian Ticktrefoil) · D. heterophyllum (Senivakacegu) · D. humifusum (Eastern Trailing Tickt Trefoil) · D. illinoense (Iilinois Tickclover) · D. incanum (Cepa De Caballo) · D. incanum var. angustifolium (Kaimi-Clover) · D. incanum var. incanum (Zarzabacoa Comun) · D. intortum (Amor Seco) · D. laevigatum (Smooth Tick Trefoil) · D. lindheimeri (Lindheimer's Tick-Trefoil) · D. lineatum (Sand Tick Trefoil) · D. marilandicum (Maryland Tick-Trefoil) · D. metcalfei (Metcalfe's Tick Trefoil) · D. neomexicanum (New Mexico Tick Trefoil) · D. nudiflorum (Bare-Stemmed Tick-Treefoil) · D. nuttallii (Nuttall Tick-Trefoil) · D. ochroleucum (Cream Tick Trefoil) · D. oojeinense (Sandan) · D. paniculatum (Narrow-Leaf Tick-Trefoil) · D. paniculatum var. dillenii (Panicled Tick-Clover) · D. paniculatum var. epetiolatum (Panicledleaf Ticktrefoil) · D. paniculatum var. paniculatum (Panicled Tick-Clover) · D. pauciflorum (Few-Flower Tick Trefoil) · D. perplexum (Beggar Lice) · D. procumbens (Western Trailing Tick Trefoil) · D. procumbens var. exiguum (Western Trailing Tick Trefoil) · D. procumbens var. procumbens (Western Trailing Ticktrefoil) · D. psilocarpum (Santa Cruz Island Tick Trefoil) · D. psilophyllum (Simple-Leaf Tick Trefoil) · D. ramosissimum (Petit Treff) · D. retinens (Santa Rita Mountain Tick Trefoil) · D. rigidum (Stiff Tick Trefoil) · D. rosei (Rose Tickclover) · D. rotundifolium (Prostrate Tick Trefoil) · D. sandwicense (Chili Clover) · D. scopulorum (Sonoran Tick Trefoil) · D. scorpiurus (Scorpion Tick Trefoil) · D. sericophyllum (Tick Trefoil) · D. sessilifolium (Sessile Tickclover) · D. striatum (Common Lespedeza) · D. strictum (Pine-Barren Tick Trefoil) · D. styracifolium (Coin-Leaf Desmodium) · D. tenuifolium (Slim-Leaf Tick Trefoil) · D. tortuosum (Amor Seco) · D. triflorum (Acaba Pangola) · D. trifolium (Tick Clover) · D. tweedyi (Tweedy's Tick-Trefoil) · D. uncinatum (Amor-De-Velha-Da-Folha-Grauda) · D. viridiflorum (Velvet-Leaf Tick Trefoil) · D. wydlerianum (Wydler's Ticktrefoil)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A hand-book to the flora of Ceylon: containing descriptions of all the species of flowering plants indigenous to the island, and notes on their history, distribution, and uses: with an atlas of plates illustrating some of the more inte by Henry Trimen. London: Dulau, 1893-1931. url p. 79.
• Botanical abstracts. Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins Co. url p. 212.
• Flora Vitiensis nova: a new Flora of Fiji (spermatophytes only) / Albert C. Smith. Lawaii, Hawaii: Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, 1979- url p. 191.
• Flora of Costa Rica. .. by Paul C. Standley. .. 18 1937 Chicago, 1937. url p. 534.
• Flora of Guatemala: families Leguminosae, Geraniaceae, Oxalidaceae, Tropaeolaceae, Linaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Rutaceae, Simaroubaceae, Burseraceae, Meliaceae, and Malpighiaceae / by Paul C. Standley and Julian A. Steyermark. 24 1946 Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Natural History Museum, 1946. url p. 240.
• Flora of Peru / by J. Francis Macbride. 13 1943 Chicago, [Ill.]: Field Museum of Natural History, [1943] url p. 434.
• Flora of Yucatan, by Paul C. Standley. 3 1930 Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, 1930. url p. 294.
• Flora of the Lancetilla Valley, Honduras, by Paul C. Standley. 10 1931 Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, 1931. url p. 225.
• Hooker, W. J. & G. A. W. Arnott. The botany of Captain Beechey's voyage;comprising an acount of the plants collected by Messrs. Lay and Collie, and other officers of the expedition, during the voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Strait, performed in His Majesty's ship Blossom, under the command of Captain F. W. Beechey. .. in the years 1825, 26, 27, and 28.By Sir William Jackson Hooker. .. and G. A. Walker Arnott. .. 1841 London, H. G. Bohn, 1841. url p. 180, p. 62.
• The Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany. 23 1886-88 London: the Society: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green: ||Williams and Norgate, 1865-1968. url p. 175.
• The forests and flora of British Honduras / by Paul C. Standley and Samuel J. Record; in cooperation with the Conservator of Forests and the Agricultural Officer of the Colony. 12 1936 Chicago: [Field Museum of Natural History], 1936. url p. 183.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 11, 2012.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3883532
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 4156054

Footnotes

1. "Desmodium". in Flora of Pakistan Page 346. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.