Lespedeza cuneata seed

LATIN NAME: Lespedeza cuneata

COMMON NAME: Sericea Lespedeza

The sericea lespedeza is the soft, grey-green mound of the dry field, and the small, cream-and-purple, pea-like flowers hide along the stems. The upright or sprawling, woody-based, perennial sub-shrub carries the fine, three-parted leaves of the narrow, silky leaflets and the small, cream, white or purple-marked, pea-like flowers in the leaf axils through the late summer, one of the fine, quiet sights of the dry field. The plant feeds the soil with the nitrogen, and it is a fine, generous presence of the pasture and the dry bank. It is a plant of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The sericea lespedeza is a useful subject of the plant science, and the fine leaflets keep showing up in the work on the soil-building legumes. The way the plant feeds the soil with the nitrogen and stands the dry grazing has been examined closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the forage legumes, the erosion-control plants and the members of the pea family. The three-parted leaves and the woody-based habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the sericea lespedeza is a regular subject of the work on the grey-green mounds of the warm world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The sericea lespedeza is a fine, generous plant of the dry field and the pasture. The small, cream-and-purple, pea-like flowers open along the stems through the late summer, and the fine, three-parted leaves make the soft, grey-green cover of the dry bank, holding the soil and feeding it with the nitrogen. The plant stands the drought, the heat and the poor ground with the ease, and it is one of the fine choices for the dry bank, the pasture and the erosion-control planting. It has been written about in the agricultural and the ecological papers for the nitrogen ways and the soil-holding habits, and it is a fine, generous plant of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.

Cut the old stems down in the late winter and the fresh, grey-green mound will come again from the base.

To grow the sericea lespedeza from seed, sow the small, round seeds just under the surface of a pot of damp, free-draining soil, keep the pot in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings come through within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the well-drained ground, the grey-green mound will spread through the warm season.