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Perplexed Tick-trefoil

Desmodium perplexum

Found in fields, woodland borders, hammocks, disturbed areas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you

69
Strong

Native to Mississippi (estimated). How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 94%

Height
About 4 feet
Light
Full sun
Soil moisture
Dry to wet
Will it fit your yard?

At a glance

Bloom
July to September
Fruiting season
August to October

Not yet recorded · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves

Recorded in 26 Mississippi counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 3

Forest edges and thickets

Wooded scene looking out over partially open fields
Named place / source context. Shown: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee; which part is not recorded, a neighboring state.Wooded scene looking out over partially open fields, Richard Schlecht, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

Coastal Plain hammocks

Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

27CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS

Genus host records with ranges including MS · Desmodium

  • Epargyreus clarusSilver-spotted Skipper
  • Aristotelia roseosuffusellaPink-Washed Aristotelia
  • Brenthia pavonacellaPeacock Brenthia Moth
  • Caloptilia violacellaTick-Trefoil Caloptilia
  • Cecropterus bathyllusSouthern Cloudywing
  • Cecropterus dorantesDorantes Longtail, Lilac-Banded Longtail
  • Cecropterus lyciadesHoary Edge
  • Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
  • Chloridea virescensTobacco Budworm Moth
  • Coelostathma discopunctanaThe Batman Moth
Show all 27
  • Cupido comyntasEastern Tailed-Blue
  • Dasylophia anguinaBlack-Spotted Prominent
  • Eurema dairaBarred Yellow, Barred Sulphur
  • Exelastis pumilioDwarf Plume Moth
  • Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
  • Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
  • Omiodes indicataBean-Leaf Webworm Moth
  • Orphanostigma haemorrhoidalisLantana Leaftier
  • Pyrrhia ciliscaAmerican Bordered Sallow, Noble Sun Moth
  • Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
  • Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
  • Stenoptilodes taprobanesNarrow Plume Moth
  • Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
  • Triclonella pergandeellaSweetclover Root Borer, Bush-Clover Triclonella
  • Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
  • Cosmopterix lespedezae
  • Porphyrosela desmodiella
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
15BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Desmodium

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
3BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Desmodium

  • Bonasa umbellusRuffed Grouse
  • Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
  • Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Fabaceae
Flower color
White
Growth rate
Rapid
Growth habit
Spreads to form colonies
Foliage color
Green
Fruit begins
August
Fruit ends
October

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope
Also known as

Perplexed Tick Trefoil

Conservation status

Mississippi rankSNR
Global rankG5
MS statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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How to check your spot

Growing cautions

  • Forms colonies. USDA PLANTS lists its growth form as colonizing. USDA PLANTS

For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.

Sources