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Scientific Name
Synonyms
Family
Common Names
Origin
Naturalised Distribution
Notes
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Click on images to enlarge

infestation (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of stem covered with hooked hairs (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

compound leaf with three leaflets (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of hairy leaflets with prominent silvery markings (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of leaflet undersides (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

immature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

young plant (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

comparison of the leaves of silverleaf desmodium (Desmodium uncinatum), top, and the very similar creeping beggarweed (Desmodium incanum), bottom (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

dense infestation in riparian vegetation along Ithaca Creek in Brisbane (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

elongated flower cluster (Photo: Chris Gardiner)

the flowers often turn bluish in colour as they mature (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

Desmodium uncinatum

Scientific Name

Desmodium uncinatum (Jacq.) DC.

Synonyms

Hedysarum uncinatum Jacq.

Family

Fabaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory)
Fabaceae: sub-family Faboideae (New South Wales)
Leguminosae (South Australia)
Papilionaceae (Western Australia)

Common Names

desmodium, silver leaf desmodium, silverleaf, silverleaf desmodium, silver-leaved desmodium, Spanish clover, Spanish tick-clover, Spanish tickclover, tick clover, velcro plant, velcro vine, velcro weed

Origin

Native to South America (i.e. Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay).

Naturalised Distribution

Naturalised in many parts of eastern Australia (i.e. in south-eastern and northern Queensland and in the coastal districts of northern and central New South Wales).

Notes

Silverleaf desmodium (Desmodium uncinatum) was introduced as a fodder crop and has now become a weed of creekbanks (i.e. riparian areas), roadsides, fencelines, forest margins, disturbed sites, waste areas and plantation crops (e.g. sugarcane). It is regarded as an environmental weed in south-eastern Queensland, where it is listed among the top 100 most invasive plants species, and on the New South Wales North Coast.

Silverleaf desmodium (Desmodium uncinatum) spreads into forest margins and along creeks where it trails over shrubs and groundcovers, but it does not climb into trees. It has also been reported to ensnare and kill native wildlife (e.g. frogs, birds, lizards and microbats) that easily become stuck to its stems and fruit.