Desmodium canadense (Showy Tick-trefoil)

Desmodium canadense, commonly called showy tick-trefoil, is a tall, perennial wildflower that lives up to its name with strikingly showy pink-purple flowers that bloom from summer into early fall, with the best shows coming from large colonies of plants planted together. Although any mention of the name 'tick' may turn people away from a new plant, showy tick-trefoil draws its name from the way that it spreads seeds in the fall: in the late summer, pollinated flowers turn to multi-part pods that easily detach from one another and latch onto passing animals or people by way of a Velcro-like hairs on the outside of the seed pod. These seeds are then scattered naturally as people continue to hike or animals continue to walk through open field environments. Once scattered, individual plants can grow from tiny seeds to mature plants 2-6' tall and 1-2' wide with rose-colored summer blooms appearing throughout the entire upper half, and swaying beautiful in the breeze.

Uniquely shaped flowers are highly attractive to native birds, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, and plants can also play host to the caterpillar larvae of butterflies and moths like the silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) which is found throughout all of Maryland. Noted for its versatility, Desmodium canadense is almost entirely indifferent to soil type, acidity, and moisture, and can thrive in a variety of locations, so long as it's provided with full sun and a fairly well-draining site. Seeds are easily dispersed by mammals, adding to the plant's ability to spread, due to the seedpod's small, Velcro-like hairs.