Index / Search / Desmodium tortuosum

§1 Plant

Desmodium tortuosum (Sw.) DC.

vernacular dixie ticktrefoil — species · Fabaceae

USDA: DETO
GBIF: 2967221
Rank: species

dixie ticktrefoil (Desmodium tortuosum) — Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb, Subshrub
Duration: Annual, Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus: Desmodium

§2a

Native status, by region

HI Hawaii Introduced
L48 Lower 48 States Native
PR Puerto Rico Native
VI U.S. Virgin Islands Native

§2b

County-level range

· 69 counties across 4 states/territories

Legend Native · 69 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 17 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 120 min.
Precipitation: 20–80 in/yr
pH range: 5–7.2
Root depth: 6 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Crown
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 9 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Flower colour: Blue
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: Low
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Fall
Seed ends: Winter
Spread rate: Rapid
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 200,640
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 69 counties across 4 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 5 N ▾

Arkansas view state ↗ 2 N ▾

Florida view state ↗ 44 N ▾

Georgia view state ↗ 18 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/DETO ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2967221 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z