Question: Creeping Bush-clover (Lespedeza repens) This is a follow up from last Sunday. This plant is over 100 miles away from …
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Question
Creeping Bush-clover (Lespedeza repens) This is a follow up from last Sunday. This plant is over 100 miles away from me so it took awhile to get more pictures. Most stems in bloom do not have leaves. Leaves are at the base. I have 2 pictures. One shows some leaves by the flower. The other is at the base of the plant. So, is this the correct identification?
Answer
Dear wdshaffer, if you notice in your photograph of the flower, there are young fruits present, made up of triangular segments that will fall apart at maturity. You have a tick-trefoil (either genus Desmodium or genus Hylodesmum). Given your comment about the stems lacking leaves, it is very likely you have Hylodesmum nudiflorum (naked tick-trefoil), a species with leafless flowering stems. Best wishes.
