Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

KOREAN LESPEDEZA

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Kummerowia stipulacea (Maxim. ) Makino

[=Lespedeza stipulacea Maxim.]

Greenwood County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-24 inches (usually 4-12 inches)

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September,October

Also Called:

Korean clover.

Stems:

Erect or ascending, 4 to 24 inches tall, branching, dense to sparse pubescence appressed upward.

Leaves:

Alternate, palmately-compound, trifoliolate; main leaves on stalks 1/5 to 2/5 inch long; leaflets spatulate to obovate, 1/3 to 1 inch long, 2/5 to 7/10 inch wide, glabrous; margins and lower midrib of younger leaflets with conspicuous fringe of hairs; stipules ovate to ovate-lanceolate, about 1/4 inch long, ridged, mostly glabrous.

Inflorescences:

1-3 flowers in leaf axils near branch tips; flowers of two types, one with petals, one inconspicuous, without petals.

Flowers:

Calyx bell-shaped, 5-lobed; corolla papilionaceous; petals about 1/4 inch long; banner petal pinkish to purplish with darker base; wing petals white; keel petals white, tips dark-red.

Fruits:

Pod, egg-shaped, 1/8 inch long, minutely pubescent, half covered by calyx; seed smooth, shiny, brown or black.

Habitat:

Roadsides, fields, pastures, and open woods; sandy soils.

Distribution:

Principally east 1/3 of Kansas.

Uses:

Bob-white quail and wild turkeys eat the seeds.

Comments:

The leaves point forward at maturity, coming together to resemble a cone. Native of Korea; introduced into the United States in 1919 as a hay and pasture plant. Korean lespedeza will spread rapidly.

Korean lespedeza