Fabaceae FAMILY

Desmanthus illinoensis

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Desmanthus illinoensis is a herbaceous perennial plant producing multiple, erect stems from a deep, woody taproot. It can grow 45 - 130cm tall[ 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and a medicine. It is used in revegetation projects on the N. American prairies.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeN. America - N. Dakota to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, south to Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Florida

HabitatPrairies, river banks and fields[ 222 Title A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Publication Author Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. Publisher Houghton Mifflin Co. Year 1990 ISBN 0395467225 Description A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties. , 235 Title An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Publication Author Britton. N. L. Brown. A. Publisher Dover Publications. New York. Year 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5 Description Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book. ]. Ditches, stream bottoms, fields, roadsides and low areas, often on clay soils[ 274 Title Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas Publication Author Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J Website http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTXpdf.htm Publisher Botanical Research Institute, Texas. Year 1999 ISBN 1-889878-01-4 Description An excellent flora, which is also available on-line. ].