Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_desmodium_tortuosum
Florida Beggarweed
Desmodium tortuosum
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About Florida Beggarweed
An upright herb or subshrub with hooked hairs and leaves of three elliptic to ovate leaflets. Small pink-to-blue-purple pea flowers occur in loose racemes or diffuse branched flower systems. Stalked pods divide into several rounded to broadly elliptic 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 tortuosum
- Common names
- Florida beggarweed
- Other names
- Desmodium tortuosum · Florida beggarweed
- 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; Erect herbs or subshrubs 5-20 dm tall; stems hooked pubescent.
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 herb or subshrub with hooked hairs and leaves of three elliptic to ovate leaflets. Small pink-to-blue-purple pea flowers occur in loose racemes or diffuse branched flower systems. Stalked pods divide into several rounded to broadly elliptic 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.