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  What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects.

home> native plant fact sheets> showy tick trefoil

Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Showy tick trefoil
 Desmodium canadense (L.) DC

Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae (legume)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native, eastern U.S. excluding most of the south.

Natural Enemies Attracted: Small numbers of Thomisidae and Chalcidoidea.

Pests Attracted: Large numbers of Japanese beetles. Medium numbers of aphids and thrips. Small numbers of lygus bugs, leafhoppers and leaf beetles.

Bees attracted: Low numbers (less than 1 bee per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including sweat bees and bumble bees.

Species Notes: Vivid pink flower spikes are borne at the end of branches. Plants filled in during the third year of growth, and grew to 3 ft. Plants bloomed throughout August. This species was one of the least attractive to natural enemies in the mid season, with half as many natural enemies as in the grass control.
About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Showy tick trefoil (Desmodium canadense) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom. graph
Habitat: Includes full sun to partial sun, and mid-range soil moisture (neither very wet nor very dry). Naturally occurring in open ground in moist to dry sandy conditions.

Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed (flowers in third year) or plug material (flowers in second year). Flowers and leaves were decimated by Japanese beetle in both years of the study.

Availability: Species is available as seed, plug, or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association

For more information: USDA-NRCS PLANTS database

This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer.
Web site information prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Rufus Isaacs and Julianna Tuell, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Funding support: USDA SARE with Project GREEEN, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension, and the MSU IPM Program.
Web developer: J.N. Landis, MSU IPM Program. Updated:11/21/06