prairie wildflower

Showy tick-trefoil

Desmodium canadense

Also known as Showy Tick Trefoil, showy ticktrefoil

Native to much of the USA and southern Canada

Nova Scotia to southern Saskatchewan, south to Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and northern Texas

In the garden

A prairie wildflower for full sun and dry to moist soil. At up to 6 ft, it needs room in meadows and sunny borders. Hardy in USDA zones 3–8.

Light

Full sun Partial shade Full shade

Moisture

Dry Moist Wet

Find your zone:

Bees Common Eastern Bumble Bee

also Western Honey Bee, Brown-belted Bumble Bee, Two-spotted Bumble Bee +22 more
American Bumble Bee, Ligated Furrow Bee, Red-belted Bumble Bee, Two-spotted Longhorn Bee, Black-and-gold Bumble Bee, Half-black Bumble Bee, Agapostemon texanus, Northern Amber Bumble Bee, Flat-tailed Leafcutter Bee, Sculptured Resin Bee, Rusty-patched Bumble Bee, Eastern Thistle Longhorn Bee, Petulant Leafcutter Bee, Megachile brevis, Cyclops Blood Bee, Cresson's Nomad Bee, False Sunflower Cuckoo Nomad Bee, Xenoglossa strenua, Coelioxys brevis, Denticulate Nomad, Federal Cuckoo Carder Bee, Bombus sp.
Butterflies Monarch

also Silver-spotted Skipper, Gray Hairstreak, Eastern Tailed-Blue +4 more
Clouded Sulphur, Eastern Black Swallowtail, Horace's Duskywing, Euphydryas phaeton
Beetles Goldenrod Soldier Beetle

also Clay-colored Leaf Beetle, Diabrotica longicornis, Onthophagus pennsylvanicus +1 more
Sand Chafer
Also visited by
- Flower flies: Scar-horned Blacklet, Ocyptamus costatus

Documented host and nectar records. Each links to a planting guide for that butterfly.

Habitat: PrairieThe wild plant community it grows in.
Native range: Much of the USA and southern CanadaUnited States (27): CT, DE, IA, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SD, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV. Canada (5): MB, NB, NS, ON, QC. Where it grows wild on its own, by state and province.
Native distribution: Nova Scotia to southern Saskatchewan, south to Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and northern TexasThe same native range, usually more exact than the state list, and often noting where it has spread beyond it.

Light: Full sunHow much sun it takes, from full sun to full shade.
Moisture: Dry to moistThe soil dampness it prefers, from dry to wet.
Hardiness zones: USDA 3–8 · Canadian 3–7The cold-to-heat climate range it survives.
Soil: Moist soils. Indifferent to soil acidityThe soils it grows in naturally.
Soil texture: Light to heavy (sandy to clay)The soil grade it prefers, from sand to clay.
Soil pH: Mildly acid to mildly alkalineThe acidity to alkalinity it tolerates (7 is neutral).

Height: up to 6 ft (to 1.8 m)Typical mature height.
Spread: ~2 ft (0.6 m)How wide one plant gets, a guide to spacing.
Life cycle: PerennialWhether it lives a single season (annual), two (biennial), or returns for years (perennial).
Growth rate: RapidA relative ranking versus other plants of the same type (USDA), not an absolute rate.