Showy Tick Trefoil

A few summers ago I went fishing at the Sanford Dam.  The fish weren't biting, so I explored the areas along the river.  I came across a tall bushy plant bearing clusters of small lavender flowers at the tips of the branches.  It was obviously a legume of some kind, and a quick check in my Newcomb's guide revealed it to be a Showy Tick Trefoil.  I was thrilled when I found it for sale at the CNC plant sale.  My original plant I poorly placed near the now-giant silky dogwood.  I learned this spring just how prolific it can be when babies began to pop up everywhere.  Fortunately they are easy to transplant, so I've place a few in better locations around my garden and saved a few for sharing.  The showy part of the name is appropriate.  The flowers are a pleasing combination of lavender and white and have a fairly long season, providing nice late summer color.  They attract bumblebees, miner bees and other long tongued bees. They are followed by clusters of seeds covered in sticky fuzz that works like tiny Velcro.  That's probably how they managed to spread around the garden.  I spent a couple weeks picking them off my shirt every time I walked past.  Trefoil refers to the three-part leaf.  The leaflets are an elongated oval shape and very handsome.  The plant in this picture is a first year seedling, so if you are looking for quick color, give this one a shot.  Desmodium canadense is the host plant of a couple butterflies and the foliage is eaten by mammals like deer and woodchuck.  The seeds are eaten by a few things.  As with other legumes, nodules in the roots host nitrogen-fixing bacteria, benefiting all the plants nearby.  The form is very pleasing, long stems that sway in the breeze.