Desmodium canadense (Showy Tick-trefoil): pink Minnesota wildflowers

Desmodium canadense (Showy Tick-trefoil)

Plant Info
Also known as:	Hoary Tick-trefoil, Canada Tick-clover
Genus:	Desmodium
Family:	Fabaceae (Pea)
Life cycle:	perennial
Origin:	native
Habitat:	sun; moist fields, prairies, along shores, along roads, railroads
Bloom season:	summer
Plant height:	2 to 6 feet
USDA PLANTS database:	Minnesota county distribution map
Spotted in Ramsey County at:	Long Lake Regional Park Rice Creek Trail Corridor Vadnais/Snail Lake Regional Park

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Detailed Information

Flower:: Flowers are in 1 or more spike-like racemes, usually densely packed, at the top of the plant. Individual flowers are pea-shaped, about ½ inch long, pink to purple with 2 yellow spots near the base of the upper lobe. A curving tube containing the stamens protrudes from the center. The bract under the flower and the short flower stalk are reddish green and hairy.
Leaves and stem:: Leaves are compound in 3's, alternately attached. Leaflets are hairy, to 3 inches long and 1 inch wide with a rounded or slightly tapering base and blunt point at the tip. The main stem is ridged and roughly hairy.
Notes:: Showy Tick-trefoil tends to grow in clumps.

More photos

Photos taken at Long Lake Regional Park, New Brighton, MN and Wild River State Park, Center City, MN August 2006 and July 2008

Comments

Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?

Posted by: Janice in Kanabec County
on: 2009-08-09 12:37:17

These grow abundantly in Kanabec County.

Posted by: Denise in clay county near Rollag
on: 2010-07-26 09:26:45

This plant grows in clumps in our front yard. We mow around it because we like the flowers and unlike the pointed leaf tick-trefoil, the blossoms don't turn into snags.

Posted by: K. Chayka
on: 2010-07-26 13:14:53

There is a prairie remnant near me that has a fair amount of showy tick-trefoil in it. If I go through there in late summer, when I come out my clothes are just plastered with its pods. It is worse than pointed leaf tick-trefoil, I think. :-) I carefully pluck the pods from my clothes and save them, to be replanted elsewhere.

Posted by: Patricia in Baxter, Mn
on: 2010-07-29 20:23:48

North of Baxter on Hwy 371. Very abundant and beautiful.

Posted by: Mark in Oakdale Nature Preserve, Oakdale MN
on: 2010-08-21 15:14:19

Several (mostly shady) locations in Oakdale Nature Preserve. Seen blooming in late July-early August 2010.

Posted by: Debbie in St. Louis Park
on: 2010-08-30 22:33:51

Edenbrook Conservation Area in Eden Prairie has a good number of these. Have also seen a few on Jim's Prairie, Maplewood.