Japanese name: アレチヌスビトハギ Scientific name:Desmodium paniculatum
[Overview]
A perennial 50–100 cm tall, found along roadsides and on vacant lots.
It is densely covered with spreading hairs.
The leaves are alternate and trifoliate; the leaflets are 5–8 cm long and 1–4 cm wide, hairy on both sides, and especially so on the underside.
Racemes arise at the stem tips and from the leaf axils, bearing small pea-like flowers.
The flowers are pale reddish purple and become more bluish as they wither.
There is a green spot at the base of the standard petal.
The fruit is flat and constricted into 4–6 segments, each of which is triangular.
The surface of the fruit has hooked hairs, and it is carried by clinging to clothes and animals.
[History]
It was confirmed in Osaka in 1965 and has become naturalized mainly in the area from Kanto westward.
