Showy Tick Trefoil
(Desmodium canadense)

Also known as Canadian Tick Trefoil, this warm-season, native perennial grows 3-5 feet tall and produces clusters of pink to purple flowers. It’s native range is Nova Scotia, south to North Carolina and Oklahoma. It is a legume that fixes nitrogen and is excellent for wildlife plantings, food cover plots, prairie restoration mixes and pollinator plantings. Plants form deep taproots which makes them ideal for bioswales. Seeds will stick tight to clothing and fur and can be difficult to remove. Bumblebees are especially fond of the flowers but long-horned bees, leaf-cutter bees and hummingbirds will also be seen on them. Showy Tick Trefoil is the larval host for the Silver-Spotted Skipper, Eastern Tailed Blue and Hoary Edge butterflies.