Chinese bushclover, better known in the U.S. as sericea lespedeza, is an Asian legume that forms dense stands of stiff, leafy stems 3–6 ft (1–2 m) tall with small cream flowers in late summer. It was planted across the eastern and central U.S. for erosion control, mine reclamation, and livestock forage and has become an invasive plant of prairies, pastures, and roadsides that is very hard to control.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A warm-season perennial with erect, somewhat woody, gray-green stems growing from a woody root crown and a that can reach about 3–4 ft (0.9–1.2 m) deep.
- Leaves
- Crowded along the stems, each made of 3 narrow leaflets ¼–1 in (0.6–2.5 cm) long, covered in flat silky hairs. The species name cuneata means wedge-shaped.
- Flowers
- Small cream flowers with purple or pink markings, ¼–⅜ in long, mostly in clusters of 2–3 in the upper leaf axils. Some flowers never open and pollinate themselves.
- Flowering time
- Late summer to fall (July to October in Missouri)
- Fruit
- A tiny, flat, one-seeded pod, green turning tan.
Look-alikes
Slender bush clover, a native, has light to dark pink flowers; sericea has cream flowers and a fishbone-like vein pattern on its leaflets.
Why they get mixed upBoth are upright bush clovers with crowded, narrow leaflets.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Roadsides
- Old fields and pastures
- Prairies
- Open woodlands
- Range
- Native to eastern Asia from Japan to the Himalayas. In the U.S. it grows outside cultivation from New Jersey and Michigan south to Florida and Texas and west to Nebraska and Oklahoma, and is especially common in the Southeast.
- Preferred conditions
- Tolerates drought, poor soils, and some flooding, partly because it fixes its own nitrogen and has a deep taproot.
- Flowering
Flowers Jul–Oct
Flowers Jul–Oct
Life cycle
- Seed dispersal
- A single stem can drop 1,000 or more seeds, and the seeds can persist in the soil for many years.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- Regulated as a noxious weed in several states, including Kansas and Nebraska; Missouri passed a ban on selling it in 2025.
- Threats
- It crowds out native plants, and because its high tannin content makes it unpalatable, livestock and wildlife graze the surrounding native plants harder instead. It may also release chemicals that stunt nearby plants.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- First planted in North Carolina in 1896, it became a widely used pasture and conservation plant by the 1940s, including for erosion control, mine reclamation, and wildlife cover.
- Its old scientific name, Lespedeza sericea, is why it is still called sericea, meaning silky, for its hairy leaves.
More species to explore
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