Chinese Lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Plantae
Phylum	Magnoliophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Superorder	Rosanae
Order	Fabales
Family	Fabaceae
Subfamily	Faboideae
Tribe	Desmodieae
Genus	Lespedeza

Scientific Name

Lespedeza cuneata

Scientific Name Synonyms

Lespedeza sericea

Lespedeza juncea var. sericea

Common Name

sericea lespedeza

Miller, J.H., E.B, Chambliss, N.J. Loewenstein. 2010. A Field Guide for the Identification of Invasive Plants in Southern Forests. General Technical Report SRS-119. Asheville, NC. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 126 p.

Plant

Perennial ascending-to-upright leguminous forb 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 m) in height, with 1-to-many leafy slender stems often branching at midplant, 3-leaflet leaves, and tiny creamy white flowers. Plant arising from a woody root crown. Dormant brown plants remaining upright during most of the winter.

Stem

Often gray green with lines of hairs along the stem.

Leaves

Alternate, crowded and numerous, 3-leaflet leaves. Each leaflet oblong to linear with a hairlike tip, 0.4 to 0.8 inch (1 to 2 cm) long and 0.1 to 0.3 inch (3 to 8 mm) wide. Green above and dense whitish hairy to light gray green beneath. Hairy petioles 0.2 to 0.6 inch (5 to 15 mm) long, absent for upper leaves. Stipules narrowly linear.

Flowers

July to September. Clusters of 1 to 3 pealike flowers crowded in upper leaf axils. Flowers creamy white with purple marks, 0.1 to 0.3 inch (4 to 7 mm) long and shorter than leaves. Hairy 5-lobed calyx shorter than petals.

Fruit and seeds

October to March. Flat ovate to round single-seeded legume pod 0.12 to 0.15 inch (3 to 4 mm) wide. Pods clustered in terminal axils, scattered along the stem and clasped by persistent sepals. Green becoming tan with tiny hairs, with 1 yellow-to-tan seed.

Ecology

Occurs in new and older forest openings, dry upland woodlands to moist savannas, old fields, right-of-ways and cities. Flood tolerant. Forms dense stands by stems sprouting from root crowns, preventing forest regeneration and land access. Crossand self-pollinates. Spreads slowly from plantings by seeds that have low germination, but remain viable for decades. Nitrogen fixer.

Resembles

Resembles slender lespedeza [L. virginica (L.) Britton], a native, which grows in tufted clumps instead of infestations, has crowded clusters of pink-purple to violet flowers and somewhat larger leaflets 0.6 to 1.2 inches (1.5 to 3 cm) long, and brown stems. Also resembles roundhead lespedeza (L. capitata Michx.), also native, which has similar leaves and whitish flowers in round-topped clusters.

History and use

Introduced from Japan (contrary to the common name) in 1899, first near Arlington, VA, and soon afterwards in north-central TN. Benefited from government programs that promoted plantings for erosion control and forage. Still planted for quail food plots, soil stabilization, and grazing. Plant improvement breeding programs still underway.

Distribution

Found throughout the region with frequent and dense infestations in AR, north MS and southwest TN, KY, northeast NC, northern SC, and central AL and GA. Not reported in the forests of central and south FL.

Management strategies

• Do not plant. Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of fruit in a dumpster or burn.
• Pull, cut, and treat when seed are not present.
• Minimize disturbance within miles of where this plant occurs, and anticipate wider occupation when plants are present before disturbance.
• Manually pull when soil is moist to ensure removal of all roots.
• Prescribed burning can promote spread of the infestation margins and mowing will increase stem density and canopy cover.
• Suppressing can be accomplished by fertilization of nutrient poor soils.
• Sparingly eaten by most livestock when the plant is young and by goats when the plant is mature, while special varieties have been bred for livestock consumption.

Recommended control procedures

• Thoroughly wet all leaves with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant (July to September): Garlon 4 as a 2-percent solution (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix), Escort XP* at three-fourths of an ounce per acre (0.2 dry ounce per 3-gallon mix), Transline* † as a 0.25-percent solution (1 ounce per 3-gallon mix), a glyphosate herbicide as a 2-percent solution (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix), or Velpar L* as a 2-percent solution (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix).
• Mowing 1 to 3 months before herbicide applications can assist control.

* Nontarget plants may be killed or injured by root uptake.

† Transline controls a narrow spectrum of plant species.

Images

September	July	February	February
July	July

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