Desmodium elegans

The Desmodium elegans, also known as the elegant Desmodium or trifoliate leaf Desmodium, is a deciduous bush that resembles the tree clover (Lespedeza) with its gracefully spreading habit and purple pea-like flowers. Still rare in cultivation, it deserves to be discovered for its generous flowering, enjoyed from summer to autumn. Beautifully cut leaves with three large leaflets add to its charm. It is a very hardy and elegant botanical species in moist soil of interest for flowering perennial or shrub borders.

The Desmodium elegans, often known as Desmodium tiliifolium, belongs to the Fabaceae family. This botanical species from East Asia is present from the Himalayas to western China: in Pakistan, Kashmir, India (Punjab, Kumaon, Bombay, Madras), Nepal and Bhutan. Its natural habitat consists of mountain forests and meadows, between 1000 and 4000 m (3281 and 13123ft) altitude. It is a plant that produces numerous woody-based stems from its stump. Its deciduous foliage disappears in winter and regrows in spring. Annual pruning in March helps maintain a denser and lower habit.

This Desmodium elegans forms a sizeable spreading tuft composed of leafy stems reaching between 1.20 m (4ft) and 2 m (7ft) in height and 2 m (7ft) in spread. Annual pruning will keep it at 1 m (3ft) in all directions. Its spring shoots are hairy and bronze-coloured. It flowers from July-August to October, at the ends of the stems, in the form of large spikes adorned with numerous purple pea-like flowers, sometimes washed with pink, rich in nectar. The foliage, which disappears in winter, consists of leaves carried by a long petiole, divided into three widely ovate leaflets, light green. The fruits are flattened pods. It prefers a rich, well-drained, and slightly moist humus soil in summer.

The Desmodium elegans is a graceful, elegant plant that should be highlighted and placed out of reach of overly expansive neighbouring plants. It is ideal in a romantic or English garden alongside asters, chrysanthemums, Japanese anemones or perpetual roses. All these late-flowering flowers delight the garden and bring joy upon returning from holiday.