Home Fabaceae Lespedeza

Lespedeza hirta (L.) Hornem.

Common Name: HAIRY BUSH-CLOVER
Coefficient of Conservatism: 7
Coefficient of Wetness: 5
Wetness Index: UPL
Physiognomy: Nt P-Forb

Dry open usually sandy ground, including fields, roadsides, and river banks; oak and oak-hickory forests.

Even if flower color and fruit are unknown, this species can be easily recognized by the ± dense pubescence on the stems and both surfaces of the leaves. No other species in our area with oblong-elliptic leaves has so much pubescence or the flowers in such dense heads. Both this species and L. capitata can be distinguished from our common purple-flowered herbaceous species by the dense heads and the spreading pubescence of the stems. Pubescence, if any, is appressed on the stems of L. frutescens, L. violacea, and L. virginica; only the rare and prostrate L. procumbens has spreading pubescence on the stem. (See also comments on L. × nuttallii under L. violacea.)

B. S. Walters

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Counties
Allegan
Barry
Berrien
Branch
Calhoun
Cass
Cass or Van Buren
Eaton
Genesee
Gratiot
Hillsdale
Ingham
Ionia
Isabella
Jackson
Kalamazoo
Kent
Lake
Lenawee
Livingston
Manistee
Mason
Mecosta
Midland
Monroe
Montcalm
Muskegon
Newaygo
Oakland
Oceana
Ottawa
Shiawassee
St. Clair
St. Joseph
Van Buren
Washtenaw
Wayne

Citation:
MICHIGAN FLORA ONLINE. A. A. Reznicek, E. G. Voss, & B. S. Walters. February 2011. University of Michigan. Web. March, 17, 2025
https://lsa-miflora-p.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/#/record/1319