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Common Lespedeza or Japanese Clover: Lespedeza striata
Weed Description:
Prostrate, freely-branched summer annual with inconspicuous purplish flowers forming mats 15 to 18 inches in diameter. Found throughout the southeast.
Roots: Taproot
Leaves:
Consist of 3 oblong leaflets (trifoliolate), 1/2 to 3/4 inch long and 1/3 to 1/2 as wide, obtuse at apex, narrowed at the base. Leaflets without hairs except for appressed hairs along the margins and midvein beneath. Lance-shaped stipules are present, 3-6 mm long, becoming brownish with age. Petioles are 1-2 mm long, much shorter than the leaves.
Stems:
Freely-branched stems with sparsely to densely appressed hairs that are bent or turned downward (retrorse).
Flowers: Solitary or 2-5 in spike-like axillary racems, pink to purple.
Leaves:
Consist of 3 oblong leaflets (trifoliolate), 1/2 to 3/4 inch long and 1/3 to 1/2 as wide, obtuse at apex, narrowed at the base. Leaflets without hairs except for appressed hairs along the margins and midvein beneath. Lance-shaped stipules are present, 3-6 mm long, becoming brownish with age. Petioles are 1-2 mm long, much shorter than the leaves.
Soruce: Common Lespedeza or Japanese Clover: Lespedeza striata