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Desmodium tortuosum (Sw.) DC.
Florida Beggarweed

Reference
Prodr. 2:332 (1825)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Alien to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Erect annual or biennial or perennial, herb or shrub, to 3 m high. Fl. pink-purple, Apr to May. Loams. Disturbed areas.

Amanda Spooner, Descriptive Catalogue, 17 August 2007

Scientific Description

Twining or climbing plants, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like) or herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 30-195 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 8-12 mm long, without glands, ribbed. Pedicel present, 12-14 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles absent. Calyx 2.5-2.7 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 4-5 mm long, multicoloured, mostly pink or purple, with some pink or purple spots, streaks or blotches. Stamens ten; filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen. Fruit indehiscent and not splitting into sections, 17-22 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, hairy, with simple hairs, not beaked. Flowers in April and May. Occurs in the Northern Botanical Province, in the Northern Kimberley, Victoria Bonaparte, Central Kimberley and Dampierland IBRA regions.

C. Hollister and K.R. Thiele, 17 April 2024

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Central Kimberley, Dampierland, Indian Tropical Islands, Northern Kimberley, Victoria Bonaparte.
IBRA Subregions
Keep, Mitchell, Pentecost, Pindanland.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Broome, Christmas Island, Derby-West Kimberley, Wyndham-East Kimberley.