Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Desmodium brachypodum
Common name
Large tick-trefoil
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, and grassy areas, often on damp sites. Widespread. Rare on the Western Slopes.
Notes
Perennial herb, erect or climbing, to 0.6 m tall. Stems covered in hooked hairs. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, with 3 leaflets, leaflets 1.5-7.5 cm long, 7-43 mm wide, upper surface more or less hairless, lower surface with minute hooked hairs, tips blunt to pointed. Lowest leaves sometimes with only one leaflet. Flowers about 4-5 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, pink or mauve to red or brownish, sometimes yellowish, in clusters 15-40 cm long of 8–20 flowers. Flowers usually paired. Flowers Spring to Autumn.
All species of Desmodium in the area have hooked hairs on the transversely jointed pods, which break up on maturity into separate one-seeded sections.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Vulnerable Vic.
Oxytes brachypoda in PlantNET.
PlantNET description (as Oxytes brachypoda): http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Oxytes~brachypoda (accessed 30 April 2021)
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