Index / Search / Desmanthus virgatus

§1 Plant

Desmanthus virgatus (L.) Willd.

vernacular wild tantan — species · Fabaceae


USDA
DEVI3
GBIF
5360097
Rank
species
wild tantan (Desmanthus virgatus)
Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb, Subshrub
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus
Desmanthus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
  • PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
  • PR Puerto Rico Native
  • VI U.S. Virgin Islands Native
§2b

County-level range

· 62 counties across 3 states/territories
Legend Native · 62 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
Low
Moisture use
Low
Fire
Low
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
Low
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
17 °F minimum
Frost-free days
365 min.
Precipitation
30–80 in/yr
pH range
5–8
Root depth
24 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Multiple Stem
Growth rate
Slow
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
2 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Yellow-Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Dense
Flower colour
White
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
Medium
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Indeterminate
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Year Round
Seed ends
Year Round
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
340,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 62 counties across 3 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/DEVI3 ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/5360097 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T12:30:10Z