Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_desmodium_incanum
Spanish Clover
Desmodium incanum
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About Spanish Clover
A variable prostrate to upright herb or shrub with hooked stem hairs and three firm elliptic leaflets per leaf. The upper leaflet surface may show a pale central mark. Racemes carry small pink-to-purple pea flowers. Stalked pods divide into nearly semicircular joints covered in 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 incanum
- Common names
- Spanish clover
- Hawaiian names
- kaʻimi
- Other names
- Desmodium incanum · Spanish clover · kaʻimi
- 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; Prostrate, ascending, or erect herb, subshrub, or shrub to 10 dm tall; stems pubescent with spreading hooked and longer straight hairs, glabrate.
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
- A variable prostrate to upright herb or shrub with hooked stem hairs and three firm elliptic leaflets per leaf. The upper leaflet surface may show a pale central mark. Racemes carry small pink-to-purple pea flowers. Stalked pods divide into nearly semicircular joints covered in 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.