Culture
Easily grown in fertile, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. Winter hardy to USDA Zones 9-11.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Desmodium elegans, commonly known as elegant tick clover, is a deciduous sub-shrub that typically grows to 3-6’ tall. It is native to forests, thickets, mountain slopes, rocky places, and ditches in the Himalayas from eastern Afghanistan to western China. Key features include (a) ternate leaves (to 10” long), each leaf having three obovate leaflets that are dark green above and downy beneath, (b) small pink pea-like flowers that bloom late summer into fall in drooping terminal panicles to 8” long, and (c) segmented fruit pods which separate at maturity into one-seeded sections covered with hooked bristles which will cling to clothing or animal fur in a bur-like manner.
Genus name comes from the Greek word desmos meaning a band or chain in reference to the jointed fruit pods.
Specific epithet from Latin means elegant.
Genus name comes from the Greek word desmos meaning a band or chain with reference to the jointed pods.
Specific epithet from Latin means elegant.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Susceptible to powdery mildew, black mildew, rust, and leaf spot.
Uses
Shrub borders. Banks and slopes. Uncommonly grown in the U.S.