Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_desmodium_uncinatum
Chili Clover
Desmodium uncinatum
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About Chili Clover
An upright or spreading herb or subshrub with long and minute hooked hairs. Each leaf has three ovate leaflets, sometimes with a pale stripe along the upper midrib. Racemes carry pink, occasionally white, pea flowers. Nearly stalkless pods divide into usually six to eight flattened obovate joints. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.
Kauaʻi evidence
Generated media is not occurrence evidence. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Desmodium uncinatum
- Common names
- chili clover · Spanish clover
- Hawaiian names
- pua pilipili · kikania pilipili · pilipilʻula
- Other names
- Desmodium uncinatum · chili clover · Spanish clover · pua pilipili · kikania pilipili · pilipilʻula
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-07
- Evidence limits
- Island-level public occurrence only.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Not yet assessed
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or subshrub; Erect or spreading herb or subshrub, 3–9 dm tall; stems moderately to densely pubescent with long and minute hooked hairs and sparsely longer pubescent.
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Occupied area and vegetation cover; Mature plants and new recruits; Reproductive plants and fruiting frequency. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
- Data gaps
- Current island extent and population trend · Measured local ecological effects
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- An upright or spreading herb or subshrub with long and minute hooked hairs. Each leaf has three ovate leaflets, sometimes with a pale stripe along the upper midrib. Racemes carry pink, occasionally white, pea flowers. Nearly stalkless pods divide into usually six to eight flattened obovate joints. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.