White Tick-trefoil - Desmodium ochroleucum

Tick-trefoils (Desmodium spp.) are widely regarded as "weeds" due to their aggressive nature and their fruit (loments) that are produced atop their numerous stems which stick to everything that brushes against it.  That said, their flowers are often showy and they serve as host plants for several butterflies.  There are 19 recognized species native to Florida and 3 that are not.  Most have pink to rose-colored flowers, but white tick-trefoil (D. ochroleucum) is unique with its white blooms.  This is a very rare plant in Florida, listed as state-endangered, and known from only two sites in Jackson County.  It also has been vouchered from most states within the Southeastern Coastal Plain from Mississippi north to south Missouri and Tennessee and then northeast to New Jersey. Throughout its range it occurs most commonly in dry woodlands and barrens, especially over calcareous substrates.  Blooming occurs most commonly in summer.

Very little seems to have been written about it and I have no personal experience with it.  These photos were taken by my friend, Floyd Griffith and used by permission.