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Desmodium incanum; photograph (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-06

Desmodium incanum (Sw.) DC.

Creeping Beggarweed; Wild Peas; Spanish Clover; Tick Trefoil

Fabaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +42

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Desmodium incanum, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Desmodium incanum, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Desmodium incanum, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Desmodium incanum, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Desmodium incanum, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Desmodium incanum, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY) 71 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
20.5°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Apr, May, Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,821mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–41DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to November (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

The Desmodium incanum of many older sources is actually Desmodium laxiflorum; see below.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Desmodium incanum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,258 mm of 1,663 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 3.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,663 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,258 mm of it May to November. Wettest month September at 219 mm, driest month March at 64 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,139 mm to 2,739 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,821 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,663 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 20.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 12.9 °C to 23.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.9 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 20.5 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Desmodium incanum through the yearWarmest months April, May, July, August and September, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 20.5 °C; 1,663 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–41RH 62–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 186 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 22–3027 / 23–3128 / 24–3229 / 25–3329 / 25–3328 / 25–3229 / 25–3229 / 25–3229 / 24–3128 / 24–3027 / 23–3027 / 22–29
Night °C21 / 13–2421 / 14–2421 / 15–2423 / 17–2423 / 18–2524 / 18–2623 / 18–2624 / 18–2623 / 18–2623 / 17–2522 / 15–2521 / 14–24
Rain mm77 / 21–15566 / 21–14364 / 19–18598 / 34–271149 / 82–294176 / 98–331172 / 94–333186 / 104–321219 / 107–361205 / 85–330151 / 39–256100 / 34–202
DLI30 / 24–3534 / 27–3837 / 32–4241 / 31–4340 / 28–4337 / 27–4338 / 29–4237 / 32–4134 / 30–3932 / 28–3630 / 25–3328 / 23–32
RH %63 / 56–6962 / 55–6962 / 55–6863 / 55–7064 / 57–7065 / 62–7065 / 62–7165 / 62–7166 / 63–7166 / 62–7165 / 60–7164 / 59–70

Records on both sides of the equator: the 53 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 186 cells that remain: the 136 at least 10° north and the 50 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, -1344 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum 17.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.3 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 186 grid cells holding the 229 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1666:2083 (6.675, -75.825). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 186 distinct grid cells holding 229 of the 284 in-range records on the northern side of the equator (136 cells poleward of 10° north, 53 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1666:2083 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 6.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected -1344 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 730 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, C. American Pacific Is., El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay · introduced: Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Tanzania, Uganda, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Ascension, St.Helena, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, New Guinea, Norfolk Is., Queensland, Fiji, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-28.647, -57.417 · in the densest population, 134 records (18% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial or subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 757 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 229 of them in the land cells it reads, of 284 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 575 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5492 km away. 832 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 473 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 757 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Desmodium incanum, photograph 1did not loadDesmodium incanum, photograph 2did not loadDesmodium incanum, photograph 3did not loadDesmodium incanum, photograph 4did not loadDesmodium incanum, photograph 5did not loadDesmodium incanum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Euphorbia thymifolia Euphorbia thymifolia Gulf sandmat Photo: CC BY, Matteo BellucciLippia micromera Lippia micromera Spanish thyme Photo: CC BY-SA, Dairon Cuevas Riveras Thelypteris tetragona Aspleniaceae Trichostigma octandrum Trichostigma octandrum Hoopvine Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezSynedrella nodiflora Synedrella nodiflora Nodeweed Photo: CC0, author not statedMimosa pigra Mimosa pigra Giant sensitive-plant Photo: CC BY, Nico Yak

Other Desmodium 18 in the reference

Desmodium batocaulon Desmodium batocaulon San Pedro ticktrefoil Photo: CC BY, CK2AZDesmodium canadense Desmodium canadense Showy tick trefoil Photo: CC0, author not statedDesmodium canescens Desmodium canescens Hoary tick-trefoil Photo: CC BY, Samuel BucknerDesmodium ciliare Desmodium ciliare Hairy small-leaf ticktrefoil Photo: CC0, author not statedDesmodium glabellum Desmodium glabellum Dillenius' ticktrefoil Photo: CC0, author not statedDesmodium illinoense Desmodium illinoense Illinois tick trefoil Photo: CC0, author not statedDesmodium intortum Desmodium intortum Greenleaf ticktrefoil Photo: CC BY, Archer SilvermanDesmodium laevigatum Desmodium laevigatum Smooth ticktrefoil Photo: CC BY, Anne ParkerDesmodium molliculum Desmodium molliculum Manayupa Photo: CC BY, Maria Luisa Bravo AlarconDesmodium paniculatum Desmodium paniculatum Narrow-leaf tick-trefoil Photo: CC BY, 岸本年郎Desmodium perplexum Desmodium perplexum Perplexed tick trefoil Photo: CC BY, Chris StahlDesmodium psilophyllum Desmodium psilophyllum Simpleleaf ticktrefoil Photo: CC BY, Cody Hinchliff all 19 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Aeschynomene incana; Aeschynomene spicata; Desmodium ancistrocarpum; Desmodium canum; Desmodium diversifolium and 35 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Sw.) DC.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +41
Wild records
757 in range · 575 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 53 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (32 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 11 at a herbarium, 10 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 6.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected -1344 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, -1344 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 177 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…