lespedeza

[New Latin Lespedeza, genus name, after V.M. de Céspedez (misread as Léspedez; fl. 1785), Spanish governor of Florida.]

A warm-season legume with trifoliate leaves, small purple pea-shaped blossoms, and one seed per pod. There are 15 American and more than 100 Asiatic species; two annual species and a perennial from Asia are grown as field crops in the United States. The American species are small shrubby perennials found in open woods and on idle land, rarely in dense stands; they are harmless weeds. See also Legume.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: shrubby or herbaceous plants widely used for forage, soil improvement, and especially hay in southern United States
  Synonym: bush clover

Lespedeza
Lespedeza bicolor
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Faboideae Tribe: Desmodieae Genus: Lespedeza
Species
Lespedeza angustifolia Lespedeza bicolor Lespedeza buergeri Lespedeza capitata Lespedeza chinensis Lespedeza cuneata Lespedeza cyrtobotrya Lespedeza cyrtobuergeri Lespedeza davidii Lespedeza davurica Lespedeza hirta Lespedeza homoloba Lespedeza intermedia Lespedeza intermixta Lespedeza japonica Lespedeza juncea Lespedeza kagoshimensis Lespedeza leptostachya Lespedeza maximowiczii Lespedeza melanantha Lespedeza pilosa Lespedeza procumbens Lespedeza repens Lespedeza stuevei Lespedeza texana Lespedeza thunbergii Lespedeza tomentosa Lespedeza violacea Lespedeza virgata Lespedeza virginica Ref: ILDIS Version 6.05

Wikispecies has information related to: Lespedeza

Lespedeza is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the pea family Fabaceae, commonly known as Bush clover or Japanese clover. The genus is native to warm temperate to subtropical regions of eastern North America, eastern and southern Asia and Australasia.

Cultivation and uses

Some species are grown as garden or ornamental plants, and/or are used as a forage crops, notably in the southern United States, and as a means of soil enrichment and for prevention of erosion. Some are invasive species in some areas.

Lespedeza bicolor var. japonica has been shown to contain l-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (lespedamin).^[1]

References

1. ^ www.plantphysiol.org

External links

• Sericea in conservation farming (Lespedeza Cuneata) hosted by the UNT Government Documents Department

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