panicled tick-trefoil, Desmodium paniculatum

Tick-trefoil are great mid-summer fun. The small flowers with those two eyes are very appealing. There are a lot of species, and they are fairly easy to identify if you work at it a little. The technical keys are pretty clear. A few moments and you will solve the puzzle. Never mind that you get a different answer depending on which edition of the key you're using. The older D. paniculatum answer now can lead to this or at least two other species. If you come to D. perplexum do you feel like you've got the answer? This part of the D. paniculatum complex grows in fields in AL, AR, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WV, ON, and QC(L). Lucas Co OH, 8/9/13. Bean family, Fabaceae.