Found this growing wild on the property & have no idea what it is. It's about 2 feet tall.

This is only a guess and I hope I am wrong, but if it's Stick-tight Desmodium cuspidatum, Fabaceae (or similar) it's a bad thing.
I voluntarily go into my neighbors' yards to pull these up so they won't spread.

I'm not sure, but my first thought was some type of Desmodium also.

greene said:This is only a guess and I hope I am wrong, but if it's Stick-tight Desmodium cuspidatum, Fabaceae (or similar) it's a bad thing.
I voluntarily go into my neighbors' yards to pull these up so they won't spread.

Please don't pull my desmodiums...
Valuable wildlife plants... the long-tailed skipper uses them for a host plant and a number of birds eat their seeds....

There's a lot of things it could be... Fabaceae is a large group.

I was sorta thinking coral bean...
check the pics here:
http://keyserver.lucidcentral....

Or maybe a Rhynchosia...

I am convinced it is not the coral bean (Erythrina crista-galli). The leaves on this are hairy, not a soft hairy but very, very short hairy that makes it rough to the touch as if your clothing dragging across it would catch. My first thought when I saw it was that it was in the trefiol - Desmodium although I have never seen one so large leaved before & it's much lighter green in leaf color. I'm going to watch for the blooms plus I need to check out the stems more closely now that I have more idea what to look for. Thanks Jay & Greene!
Sorry Stone, if it's indeed Desmodium, I will pull them. Believe me, there is plenty enough Desmodium of the smaller varieties on this property for the wildlife. So much so that I fight to keep from being overrun with it.

I will not mark this solved yet until I am positive about it. Soon enough, I will know.

Just for grins... I went out and took some pics...

Clitoria mariana


Desmodium sp. sorry, haven't identified it yet...

@stone
I went down & took another long look at it & some more photos. I am convinced it is Desmodium sp. Notice the cats on it which have been ID'd as long tailed skippers. I am going to leave everything alone until it blooms & produces immature seed, at which point I will yank them out AFTER I check for more cats or eggs. If I find cats or eggs, I have been instructed how to care for them & feed them & I will raise them to adult butterflies. Now I just need to figure out *which* Desmodium it is.

You described the texture of the leaves: "The leaves on this are hairy, not a soft hairy but very, very short hairy that makes it rough to the touch as if your clothing dragging across it would catch."

Here is a link to a Florida blog about the Skippers and Desmodium tortuosum; the blogger says the leaves are "like velcro":
http://myfloridabackyard.blogs...

Thanks greene, I would say velcro pretty well describes it!

Velco-like seeds, too.

If the seeds attach themselves to your clothes you can run the clothes through both the washer and the dryer and the seeds will still be stuck on your clothes. Very well-designed seeds!

By the way, there is currently no shortage of these plants in my area. Each time the earth is disturbed, long-dormant seeds emerge and thrive. The newest location is along our newly completed highway - The Truman Parkway - is lined with Desmodium plants of one variety or another. A beautiful sight if you happen to be a Skipper, or a deer, or an aphid, or a stinkworm....

Oh believe me, I know about the seeds. We call them beggar lice, some call them hitch hikers & others have other names for them. PITA is what they are!
We have plenty here too of the smaller version that i will never be able to defeat but that doesn't mean I have to let the big ones get started, so I will pull those suckers before they have a chance to take over the place. I also have plenty of spanish needle too & it's a losing battle to try & eliminate them.

I don't have too many regrets in life - whatever does not kill us will make us stronger - but my one regret in gardening is that I allowed the Bidens/Spanish Needle to enter small garden - there is not enough room for it and me.
Talk about an unwelcome guest who doesn't know when to leave.
Maybe that is why I am being so diligent with other potentially 'rude' plants.

Looks like Desmodium to me too; possibly D. floridanum. Nothing in the ATP Database yet: Florida Tick Trefoil (Desmodium floridanum)

For comparison, check out the first few photo's here: http://www.tndeer.com/tndeerta...

Picture two landscape workers in the middle of a freeway interchange picking at each other's clothes like monkeys, so we could get back in our truck. The Spanish needle gets taller than me, and I can tell you we had several unprintable names for it. One of my co-workers used to pay her daughter a $ every evening to pick the seeds out of her boot laces.
Sorry this has nothing to do with Desmodium ,but the reference got me remembering those days.

Carol: I know what you mean. We have lots of Spanish Needles (Bidens pilosa) and I am forever picking those little sticky seeds off of my clothes, socks, shoes, the dog ....

ctcarol said: Picture two landscape workers in the middle of a freeway interchange picking at each other's clothes like monkeys, so we could get back in our truck. The Spanish needle gets taller than me, and I can tell you we had several unprintable names for it. One of my co-workers used to pay her daughter a $ every evening to pick the seeds out of her boot laces.
Sorry this has nothing to do with Desmodium ,but the reference got me remembering those days.

Other than that link posted by Lin, I have been unable to find photos of this plant as Desmodium floridanum. In that link it is ID'd as D. floridanum but since I can find nothing else, I consider that a weak reason by itself to base my ID on it. I found some sample in the herbararium but again, they do not state anything about the leaf sizes. I need to find some bonafide reference to the leaf size & I have searched high & low & come up empty.

@JRsbugs can you possibly locate any references? You are so good at coming up with photos & references.

Two landscape workers

There are 26 species of Desmodium in Florida. Wunderlin (1998) has a key

http://www.regionalconservatio...

The information on that site is for south Florida, but there are still 26 species of Desmodium in Florida.

23 species are listed on the Florida plant atlas, that should give you a clue as to which species you can expect to find in your location. Having looked at some they are close enough to leave room for doubt and as we know, plants are often found in wider locations than given.

http://florida.plantatlas.usf....

Elimination can be a good way to do it, that requires searching all the species listed which might give clues. By doing that you can often find keys which may or may not help.

I searched Desmodium cuspidatum because the stem shot appears to show bracts which 'cusp' the stem although it's not clear, missouriplants has some clues. If it doesn't fit, eliminate. Flowers would be a great help!

http://www.missouriplants.com/...

By using the 'back' button you will find more species to check out on the missouriplants site, don't forget to use the 'next' button.

http://www.missouriplants.com/...

You can often find a book which is referenced on Google books, at least parts of it which can be useful. I found the Guide to Vascular Plants of Central Florida by Wunderlin which might be of use as many plants will be common to other part of Florida.

http://books.google.co.uk/book...

I found a link to a book with keys for the south -eastern United States, page 634 mentions Desmodium in the links at the side but the keys don't appear to have it! The keys might be useful for other plants though ..

http://eol.org/pages/639561/li...

http://eol.org/pages/639561/li...

http://www.biodiversitylibrary...

I found a key for Desmodium of North Carolina! They appear to include the same species ..

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plant...

Thank you so much Janet! I will start the long process. Boy! You sure gave me my homework didn't you? The plant will probably bloom before I can go through allllll those.