My first encounter with Round-headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata) was in late fall when the warm brown seed heads caught my eye.
Round-headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata)
Throughout fall through winter, this plant is at its most dramatic, easily compelling attention away from nearby vegetation.
Round-headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata)
When in bloom, Round-headed Bush Clover’s appearance is much more subtle, blending in with the grasses, Mountain Mints, asters, goldenrods and other plants that may share its territory.
Round-headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata)
Round-headed Bush Clover has dense clusters, or heads, of small white flowers. ‘Capitata’ in the scientific name means ‘growing in a dense head’, reflecting this arrangement. The upper petal of each flower has a bit of an art deco vibe – they’re smudged with pink at the throat with ray-like veins radiating above. This display may look delicately pretty to us, but to the many bees that visit the flowers it’s a beacon advertising food availability.
Round-headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata)
The flower petals are protected by hairy sepals, green when the flowers are in bloom, then turning deep brown for fall and winter. It’s these brown sepals that provide the eye-catching winter display. If Round-headed Bush Clover’s strategy for enticing pollinators to visit is successful, dry (not fleshy) fruits will be tucked inside the dried sepals.
Hairs on plants are often an adaptation to protect the plant from being eaten, or too discourage free-loaders from stealing nectar when the flowers are blooming. For example, ants visit flowers for nectar but rarely help with pollination because they are not a good anatomical match for the flowers’ reproductive structures, nor do the ants have the type of surface to which pollen might adhere. The hairy sepals surrounding the flowers are likely to discourage ants from foraging the flowers, preserving the nectar for more effective flower visitors.
Round-headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata)
Round-headed Bush Clover has three-part compound leaves, an arrangement that is common with clovers. It grows to a height of two to five feet (.6 – 1.5 meters). Although the plant is somewhat shrubby-looking, it is herbaceous, that is, its above ground parts die back in the winter, and new shoots emerge from its roots for the next growing season.
In addition to offering food for pollinators, Round-headed Bush Clover is a food plant for the caterpillars of several butterflies, including the Silver-spotted Skipper,
Silver-spotted Skipper ovipositing (laying an egg) on Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana). Silver-spotted Skippers have the unusual habit of laying their eggs on plants near their caterpillar food plants.
Eastern-tailed Blue,
Eastern-tailed Blue on Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Gray Hairstreak,
Gray Hairstreak on White Clover (Trifolium repens)
Southern Cloudywing, Northern Cloudywing, Confused Cloudywing, Hoary Edge, and the Io Moth.
Dark-eyed Juncos, Mourning Doves, Bobwhites and Wild Turkeys are among the birds that may eat the seeds when they are available.
Dark-eyed Junco
Round-headed Bush Clover is native in most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States, and in Ontario and New Brunswick in Canada. Searching for it in a meadow near you gives you a reason to go out for a winter walk!
Round-headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata)
Resources
Beadle, David; Leckie, Seabrooke. Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America. 2012.
Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy. Butterflies of the East Coast. 2005.
Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A. The Plants of Pennsylvania. 2007
Stearn, William T. Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names. 1996
Natural History Museum Hosts Database
The Natural Web 
Mary Anne, I found it!! You are right…what an inspiration on a “barren” piece of landscape. My bush clover lines a path above a gorge in Ithaca, NY. I have been on the lookout for more. Many thanks for my continuing education. I think I can get back to see it in the late spring or summer.
Terrific! It is so much fun to see plants in different seasons. You really get to know them!
I’ve had this in my garden for a few years and it always inspires, especially during our drab winters. If you look around, you can see it on the sides of our highways and it is indeed striking. Thank you, Mary Anne, for providing so much information — now I know who Lespedeza capitata’s large seeds feed. And for those who live and garden in the Northern Virginia area, you can find this plant for sale at the non-profit http://www.EarthSangha.org.
Thanks for the information on where to purchase it!
The Round-headed Bush Clover is really an eye catcher! I wish you a wonderful 2018 with a lot of impressive moments in nature, Mary Anne! Simone
Thank you, Simone! I wish you the same!
Thank you so much. I’ve never heard of this plant, but your photos, description and links were an eye-opener. I will look for this one next time out in the field.
Good luck!