| DESCRIPTION: A small prostrate legume with a woody taproot. Strongly branched stems to 50 cm frequently rooting at the nodes. Trifoliate leaves with leaflets up to 12 mm long and 10 mm wide. Pink to purple flowers. Pods flat, 6ˆ18 mm long and 2ˆ3.5 mm wide. USE: Used in short-grazed pastures, where it can form up to 50% of the herbage. Creeping mat can provide good ground cover during the wet season, especially in mown or closely cut uses such as under plantation crops and in lawns. GROWING PERIOD: Annual or perennial. COMMON NAMES: Creeping tick trefoil, Three-flower beggarweed. FURTHER INF: It has pantropical distribution found in pastures, plantations, roadsides and lawns. Occurs in the humid tropics and warmer subtropics with more than 1200 mm rainfall; it behaves as perennial under well-distributed rainfall and an annual under seasonal rainfall. Very shade tolerant but frost intolerant. Resistant to heavy grazing and frequent mowing or cutting. Found on a wide range of soil types, including acid, high Al soils. |