Showy Tick Trefoil
Desmodium canadense
native
Other Names:
Canada Tick Trefoil, Canada Tick Clover
Showy Tick Trefoil is native to the eastern half of North America, except for the southeastern United States. It is not very common in Virginia, which is at the south end of its range in the eastern United States. It is in the legume family, along with peas, lentils, soybeans, and peanuts. Showy Tick Trefoil grows in woods, prairies, and disturbed habitat, such as roadsides, and it is cultivated as an ornamental plant. Bees pollinate the plant, and weevils, beetles, flies, bugs, thrips and other insects eat the foliage. It is a larval host plant for butterflies such as the Eastern Tailed-blue, Silver-spotted Skipper, and Hoary Edge. Small rodents eat the seeds.
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