Desmodium incanum

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,700 metres, though it does best below 300 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 25 - 32°c, but can tolerate 7 - 36°c^[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -13°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c^[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,500 - 3,100mm, but tolerates 1,000 - 4,000mm^[1]. Plants can persist and even spread in areas receiving 1000mm^[2]. Prefers a sunny position, but can tolerate quite dense shade^[1]. Prefers a fertile, neutral to slightly alkaline soil, but may be grown on a wide range of soil types from sands to light clays^[2]. Tolerant of low-fertility soils^[3]. Prefers a well-drained soil, but can tolerate temporary inundation of the soil^[2]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 7, tolerating 4 - 8^[1]. One of the commonest weedy plants of many parts of the Central American lowlands, it has escaped from cultivation and become a weed in many areas outside its native range^{[3, 4]}. Because of the abundant small uncinate hairs on most species, the seedpods cling most tenaciously to clothing, to any part of the human body, and also to the feathers and hair of various animals, thus ensuring a wide dispersal of the plants^[4]. In regions where it is naturalized, it is particularly common along roadsides, wasteland and other disturbed ground^[2]. There are conflicting reports on whether or not this species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, so it is unclear as to whether it fixes atmospheric nitrogen^[5]. Flowers are produced in about 90 days from seed s in north Queensland and in 51 - 81 days in Hawaii^[1].