Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Large-flowered tickclover

LARGE-FLOWERED TICKCLOVER

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Hylodesmum glutinosum (Muhl. ex Willd.) H. Ohashi & R. R. Mill

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 16-40 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August

Also Called:

Pointed-leaf ticktrefoil.

Stems:

Erect, unbranched below inflorescences, glabrous or sparsely spreading- and hooked-hairy.

Leaves:

3-foliolate, nearly whorled at bases of inflorescences, stalks 2 to 6 inches long; leaflets broadly egg-shaped, 3 to 6 inches long, nearly as wide, surfaces sparsely hairy; margins entire; tips tapering to points; 2 lateral leaflets smaller.

Inflorescences:

Raceme-like or branched, 12 to 30 inches long, terminal; rachis with tiny hooked hairs.

Flowers:

Calyces shallowly 2-lobed, finely hairy; corollas papilionaceous, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, pink or purple, drying bluish; stamens 10, filaments united into 1 group.

Fruits:

Jointed pods called loments, flat, with 1-4 triangular to somewhat egg-shaped segments; seeds 1 in each segment, flat, 1/4 inch long, brown.

Habitat:

Dry or rocky woods, thickets, and wooded stream valleys.

Distribution:

East half of Kansas.

Forage Value:

Deer will eat the leaves, and turkeys and bobwhite quail will consume the seeds.

Comments:

The scientific name recently changed to Hylodesmum glutinosum (Muhl. ex Willd.) H. Ohasi & R. R. Mill. The pods are able to cling to clothing and fur due to tiny hooked hairs on their surfaces.

Large-flowered tickclover