Monographs Details:
Authority:

Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Family:

Fabaceae
Scientific Name:

Desmodium
Description:

Genus Description - Erect or prostrate perennial herbs. Leaves mostly trifoliolate; stipules minute, straw-colored, persistent or deciduous; stipels Rowers small, in axillary pseudoracemes or panicles, the bracts and bracteoles minute, deciduous or persistent; calyx bell-shaped, with 5 short sepals; corolla of various colors, but mostly pink, yellow, or bluish, the standard oblong to rounded, notched at apex, narrowed at base, the wings and keel of similar length, the wings appressed against the keel; stamens 10, diadelphous or all fused; ovary stipitate or sessile, pubescent, with few ovules, the style inflexed, the stigma minute. Legume a linear, flattened or twisted loment, the valves deeply constricted between the seeds along the margins, or only the ventral one, indehiscent, but the segments individually breaking away; the individual segments or the whole legume usually sticking to the cloth or fur of transient people or animals (because of hooked hairs); seeds small, bean-shaped.

Distribution and Ecology - A genus of 300 species distributed in temperate and tropical regions.