Desmodium spicatum Rehd.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Desmodium spicatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/desmodium/desmodium-spicatum/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
inflorescence
Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
leaflet
Leaf-like segment of a compound leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
raceme
Unbranched inflorescence with flowers produced laterally usually with a pedicel. racemose In form of raceme.
standard petal
(in the flowers of some legumes) Large upper petal; also known as ‘vexillum’.
trifoliolate
With three leaflets.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Desmodium spicatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/desmodium/desmodium-spicatum/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

A deciduous, laxly branched shrub up to 6 or 8 ft high; young shoots herbaceous, purplish, hairy, ribbed. Leaves trifoliolate, 3 to 6 in. long; main-stalk downy, grooved. Terminal leaflet the largest, up to 2 in. long, roundish obovate to rhomboid with a stalk up to 34 in. long; lateral leaflets shortly stalked, obliquely ovate, smaller; all bluntish or minutely pointed, dark green and with short hairs above, covered with a grey, thick, soft down beneath. Inflorescence a terminal raceme up to 6 in. long, sometimes with a branch or two at the base, the pea-like flowers in whorls of six or eight. Corolla rosy-carmine, 58 in. long, standard petal heart-shaped with incurved margins, greenish at the base. Calyx funnel-shaped at the base, 110 in. long, downy, with five ovate pointed lobes. Pod curved, 2 in. long, 316 in. wide, downy, four- to six-jointed, flattened, scalloped or crenulated on the upper side as is common to this genus. Bot. Mag., t. 8805.

Native of W. Szechwan, China; raised by Maurice de Vilmorin from Chinese seeds in 1896. By him it was sent to Kew, where it has proved quite hardy, flowering very freely in September and October provided it gets a sunny autumn. It was also found by Wilson in W. Szechwan and plants raised from his seeds are in gardens.