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Family: Fabaceae
Mid-Atlantic bloom time:
July - August
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe:
August - October
Individual flowers of Naked-flowered Tick-trefoil are slightly less than 1 cm in diameter. Once considered park of the genus Desmodium, it is now classified in a separate genus with several other tick-trefoils.
Called "naked-flowered" (and species name nudiflorum) because there are no leaves on the flowering stalk, and "tick" because their triangular seeds (when ripe) will cling to your clothes (or fur) and hitchhike to a new location.
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5 July 2012
Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA 
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5 July 2012
Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA 
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23 July 2014
Conway Robinson Memorial State Forest, Gainesville, VA (reproductive structures visible on upper flower) 
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23 July 2014
Conway Robinson Memorial State Forest, Gainesville, VA (showing maturing seeds) 
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