Desmodium paniculatum

When sterile Desmodiums may be confused with Lespedezas. The two can be distinguished by the presence of a pair of stipules at the base of the terminal leaflet and a single stipules at the base of the lateral leaflets in Desmodium, while Lespedexa has no stipules (Grelen and Hughes 1984).

The seed is easily collected from socks and pants at the end of a summer walk through prairie. Seed germination improves with scarification, cold/dry stratification, and innoculation at planting time (Steffen 1997).

The following information is for genus Desmodium: Animals that eat its seeds: Bobwhite quail, Wild turkey. Animals that eat the plant: White-tailed deer (Martin et al. 1951).

All members of this genus are called "pain de pain pain" by the Acadians of south Louisiana. Desmodium paniculatum grows in dry sandy woods, clearings and prairie remnants of Louisiana and east and southeast Texas. It occurs from Iowa south to Florida and west to Texas. It is the first species of Desmodium to bloom in coastal prairie remnants. The common name tickseed and beggars-ticks come from the flat fruits that stick to clothing and animal hair.

Fields, open woods, rich or rocky upland woods, stream valleys, prairie ravine thickets, pond shores, roadsides.