How to Grow and Care for Tick clover

Panicledleaf ticktrefoil (Desmodium paniculatum) is a perennial herb related to the pea plant. Panicledleaf ticktrefoil is native to North America and grows from Quebec to Florida. This species has minimal commercial use as forage for ruminants in pastures.

Zarzabacoa comun originates from Central and South America but has spread widely in North America and Hawaii as an invasive weed after being introduced as a fodder crop. This plant is used to control the parasitic weed “striga” in dry East African farmlands. Its ability to grow on poor-quality soil makes it a good grazing legume in parts of the Amazon basin.

Showy Tick-Trefoil (Desmodium canadense) lives up to the adjective modifying its common name when, in mid-summer, stunning fuchsia flowers make their appearance. It’s a nitrogen-fixing plant, meaning that its roots are colonized by bacteria that extract nitrogen from the air, which the plant then uses, contributing nitrogen to the soil in the process.

Threeflower ticktrefoil is a flowering perennial that forms mats along the ground. It has hairy stems and pink to purple flowers and is native to the southernmost United States and Hawaii.

Prostrate ticktrefoil (Desmodium rotundifolium) is a plant species with an unclear native origin. Prostrate ticktrefoil is also called beggar lice and tick clover. There are dozens of species in the Desmodium genus and many of their taxonomic classifications have been contested by the scientific community.