Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin - Hylodesmum glutinosum

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

Family: Fabaceae

cluster-leaf tick-trefoil, pointed tick-trefoil

[Desmodium acuminatum (Michx.) DC., more...]

Christopher Noll

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Desmodium: Greek meaning "long branch or chain," probably from the shape and the way the seedpods attach
Plants: erect, perennial, 2'-5' tall forb; stems unbranched
Leaves: usually several 3-parted, long-stalked leaves bunched just below the flowere cluster; leaflets broadly oval
Flowers: pink, 5-parted, 1/4"-1/3" long, stalked; inflorescence a 4"-32" branched cluster (panicle) on a leafy stalk; blooms July-Aug.
Fruits: flat pod covered with clinging, hooked hairs and divided into 2 or 3 rounded triangular segments fruit drawing

Habitat: shade; dry; woods; in rich soil

Dry to mesic forests of oak-maple, oak-hickory, oak-pine, maple-basswood, maple-oak; also in fields and thickets, oak savannas, and on sandstone bluffs and ledges. This is a more robust species than H. nudiflorum; both have annoying fruits that stick to clothes and fur. Found throughout the state, but absent from the Northern Highlands and most of the North Central Forest as well as parts of extreme northwestern Wisconsin.