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Thunberg's lespedeza (Lespedeza thunbergii)

Thunberg's lespedeza Common Names: Shrub lespedeza

Description: Introduced to provide legume food and cover to popular game animals such as ring-neck pheasants, bobwhite quail, cottontail rabbits and white-tailed deer. Capable of nitrogen fixing.

Habit: Perennial legume growing between 4-6 feet tall with stems reaching about 1/2 inch in diameter.

Leaves: 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, more linear than oval.

Stems: Die back to the ground annually, about 1/2 inch in diameter.

Flowers: Pink to purple in color.

Fruit and seeds: Small, black, bean-like seeds are singly produced in pods that open when mature. Capable of producing 300-500 pounds of seed per acre (72,000 seeds per pound).

Habitat: Native to eastern Asia. Can be found in well drained soils.

Reproduction: By seed.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Thunberg's lespedeza

Scientific Name:

Lespedeza thunbergii

Family:

Fabaceae
(Pea)

Duration:

Perennial

Habit:

Shrubs

USDA Symbol:

LETH4