Smooth Tick Trefoil

Description

Desmodium glabellum, also known as Smooth Tick Trefoil, is a native perennial legume native to the south and eastern United States. Light pink to purplish flowers bloom June through September.  It grows in fields, woodland borders, and disturbed areas. It blooms in late summer into fall with medium size flowers.

The seeds are eaten by some upland gamebirds and small rodents, including the Bobwhite, Wild Turkey, and White-footed Mouse. Mammalian herbivores eat Tick Trefoils readily, including deer, rabbits, and groundhogs. Mammals help to distribute the seeds as the loments readily cling to their fur.

Livestock enjoy Desmodiums. Nitrogen is added to the soil through the root nodules.

Smooth Tick Trefoil prefers partial sun and mesic to slightly dry conditions. This plant usually grows in soil that contains loam, clay-loam, or some kind of rocky material.

Habitats include savannas, rocky upland forests, edges of wooded areas, thickets, and limestone glades.

This plant is commonly used in the following mixes: Shadows & Sunbeams.