Lespedeza capitata

Sizes available: HPP #1

Basics: zones 4-8, 24-48" x 12-24", full to part sun or high, light shade, blooms in late summer, flowers are cream-colored with little pink accents, likes well-drained, medium to dry soils, with medium to low fertility, drought tolerant once established.

Common names: Round-headed Bush Clover, Rabbit Foot (Pawnee nation: parus-asu), Male Buffalo Bellow Plant (Omaha and Ponca nations)

Family: Fabaceae

Origin/Distribution: New Brunswick to Ontario and Maine to central Minnesota and southeast South Dakota, and south to Florida and east Texas. This plant is native to Maine.

Habitat: dry, open woods, railroad beds and roadsides, upland prairie, and sandy sites including dunes

More: Oh boy, here is just a partial list of some of the species found in Maine that use Lespedeza capitata as a host plant: the Ornate Bella Moth, Utetheisa ornatrix, (aka Beautiful Utetheisa), which is a day-active Tiger Moth, the Eastern Tailed Blue, Cupido comyntas, the Gray Hairstreak, Styrmon melinus humuli, the Hoary Edge, Achalarus lyciades, the Northern Cloudywing, Thorybes pylades, the Orange Sulphur, Colias eurytheme, the Silver-spotted Skipper, Epargyreus clarus, the Southern Cloudywing, Thorybes bathyllus (this is classified as a species of greatest conservation need in Maine), and the Spring Azure, Celastrina ladon. Wait! There's so much more: Songbirds enjoy the seeds, in particular the Northern Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus, as well as Mourning Doves, Turkeys, and Juncos. This plant is a delicious and nutritious livestock forage that is also enjoyed by rabbits, deer, and muskrat (so plant lots!). It is a nitrogen-fixer, makes a great cut flower, and its roots and leaves have been used medicinally. Its taproot is up to 6' deep (!) which helps to open up degraded and compacted soils. It also means this plant will resent being moved. 

Nursery: Honey Petal Plants

Image credits: Flower: Aaron Carlson, Plant form: H. Zell, Seedhead: Krzysztof Ziarnek, all of these images were offered for free use via Creative Commons and available through the North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. This site is an excellent resource for researching native plants. Thank you to the photographers, Creative Commons and North Carolina Extension!