Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_desmodium_cajanifolium
Tick Trefoil
Desmodium cajanifolium
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About Tick Trefoil
An upright shrub with hooked hairs on young stems and leaves of three narrow, smooth-edged leaflets. Large, branched racemose flower systems carry lavender-to-blue pea flowers. Stalked pods divide into usually five or six obtusely triangular joints covered with hooked hairs. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.
Kauaʻi evidence
Generated media is not occurrence evidence. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Desmodium cajanifolium
- Common names
- tick trefoil · tick clover
- Other names
- Desmodium cajanifolium · tick trefoil · tick clover
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-07
- Evidence limits
- Island-level public occurrence only.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Not yet assessed
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or subshrub; Shrubs 20-50 dm tall; stems terete, densely pubescent with minute hooked hairs, especially on young parts.
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Occupied area and vegetation cover; Mature plants and new recruits; Reproductive plants and fruiting frequency. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
- Data gaps
- Current island extent and population trend · Measured local ecological effects
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- An upright shrub with hooked hairs on young stems and leaves of three narrow, smooth-edged leaflets. Large, branched racemose flower systems carry lavender-to-blue pea flowers. Stalked pods divide into usually five or six obtusely triangular joints covered with hooked hairs. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.