Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Desmodium uncinatum; photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-05

Desmodium uncinatum (Jacq.) DC.

Spanish tick-clover; Silverleaf desmodium

Fabaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +24

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Desmodium uncinatum, photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Desmodium uncinatum, photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Desmodium uncinatum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDesmodium uncinatum, photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Desmodium uncinatum, photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Desmodium uncinatum, photograph (c) Tony van Kampen, some rights reserved (CC BY) 70 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.5°C
Record low 0.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
24°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,370mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–45DLI
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, June to September (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

Desmodium uncinatum, the silverleaf desmodium, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to Latin America, and introduced as a fodder to various locales in Africa, India, New Guinea, Australia and Hawaii. Although chiefly a fodder, it can also be used for pasture, deferred feed, cut-and-carry, hay, ground cover, and mulch. It is considered invasive in Australia and Hawaii.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (800 mm of 1,142 mm) falls in June to September. The temperature curve is flat, 3.6 °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

1,142 mm in the median year at the habitat, 800 mm of it June to September. Wettest month August at 206 mm, driest month December at 15 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 710 mm to 2,990 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,370 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,142 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: 31 to 45 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.5 °C, the absolute minimum 0.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 8.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 4.3 °C to 17.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.9 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 53 to 67% 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. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -18 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. 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 uncinatum through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 24 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 8.9 °C; 1,142 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost35.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER0.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 31–45RH 53–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 147 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 18–2522 / 19–2623 / 20–2724 / 20–2824 / 20–2822 / 19–2721 / 19–2521 / 19–2621 / 18–2521 / 18–2521 / 18–2520 / 18–25
Night °C9 / 4–189 / 5–1810 / 6–1811 / 8–1912 / 9–1913 / 10–1912 / 9–1812 / 9–1812 / 10–1812 / 8–1810 / 6–189 / 5–18
Rain mm26 / 7–16119 / 10–17816 / 7–24334 / 11–33183 / 41–344191 / 96–362205 / 75–372206 / 69–360198 / 95–372117 / 51–35932 / 11–31715 / 6–213
DLI32 / 27–3536 / 29–3942 / 30–4545 / 26–4842 / 25–4634 / 25–4035 / 27–3935 / 30–3833 / 28–3632 / 26–3532 / 24–3431 / 24–33
RH %57 / 51–7055 / 49–7053 / 46–7054 / 46–7260 / 51–7265 / 59–7265 / 60–7166 / 60–7167 / 62–7165 / 59–7260 / 55–7258 / 53–71

Records on both sides of the equator: the 71 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 147 cells that remain: the 93 at least 10° north and the 54 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 147 grid cells holding the 161 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 1401:1554 (19.925, -102.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.4 °C. 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 147 distinct grid cells holding 161 of the 245 in-range records on the northern side of the equator (93 cells poleward of 10° north, 71 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 1401:1554 (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 20.00_-102.500, lapse-corrected -18 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1725 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, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay · introduced: Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, St.Helena, China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan, India, Jawa, New Guinea, New South Wales, Queensland, Tonga, Cook Is., Marquesas, Hawaii · 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-27.05, -54.42 · in the densest population, 177 records (29% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual, 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 609 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 161 of them in the land cells it reads, of 245 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 504 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 12 km away. 906 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 364 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 609 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 uncinatum, photograph 1did not loadDesmodium uncinatum, photograph 2did not loadDesmodium uncinatum, photograph 3did not loadDesmodium uncinatum, photograph 4did not loadDesmodium uncinatum, photograph 5did not loadDesmodium uncinatum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Tony van Kampen, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Mentzelia arborescens Mentzelia arborescens Loasaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-Rodríguez Vallesia aurantiaca Apocynaceae Tinantia erecta Tinantia erecta Commelinaceae Photo: CC BY, GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZProsthechea michuacana Prosthechea michuacana Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Ricardo Betancourt SánchezClethra mexicana Clethra mexicana Jicarillo Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezSolanum chrysotrichum Solanum chrysotrichum Giant devil's-fig Photo: CC BY, Elizabeth Meier

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 incanum Desmodium incanum Creeping Beggarweed Photo: CC BY, xanderferretDesmodium 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 Stahl all 19 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Desmodium hjalmarsonii; Desmodium intortum var. pilosiusculum; Desmodium limense var. sandwicense; Desmodium pilosiusculum; Desmodium sandwicense and 12 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Jacq.) DC.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +23
Wild records
609 in range · 504 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; 43 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (24 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 14 at a herbarium, 5 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 20.00_-102.500, lapse-corrected -18 m at 6.5 °C/km
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 140 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…