The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Desmodium incanum
Also called Kaimi Clover, Creeping Beggarweed, Spanish Clover, Tick Trefoil, Tickclover, Wild Peas
Desmodium incanum, also called creeping beggarweed or Spanish clover, is a perennial legume from Central and South America that spreads by branched runners and is often treated as a weed. It is an adaptable ground cover that tolerates poor soils and seasonal dryness.
The Desmodium incanum of many older sources is actually Desmodium laxiflorum; see below.
Desmodium incanum, also known as creeping beggarweed, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-trefoil or hitchhikers is a perennial plant native to Central and South America. In Hawaiʻi it is known as kaʻimi or kaimi clover from the Hawaiian for "seeker". Initially introduced as forage crop around the world, it has spread to many places although it is no longer an important fodder crop. It is considered a weed both within and outside its native range. It has spread through Florida and across the southern USA into southern Texas and across many Pacific islands, including Hawaiʻi.
In West Africa, a blue dye is obtained from Desmodium incanum.
Showy ticktrefoil · Greenleaf ticktrefoil · Scorpion ticktrefoil · Dixie ticktrefoil · Spanish Tick Clover · Ticktrefoil
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Desmodium incanum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
