About Desmodium intortum (Mill.) Urb.
Desmodium intortum, commonly called greenleaf desmodium, is also known as beggarlice alongside other species in the Desmodium genus. It is a flowering plant species in the genus Desmodium, native to Mexico, Central America, northern South America, the Galápagos, Haiti and Jamaica. This nitrogen-fixing fodder crop has been introduced to tropical regions across the rest of the world, including Africa, India, Australia, New Guinea and Taiwan. Desmodium intortum is used in push–pull agricultural pest management, because it produces potent secondary metabolites that are released into the soil and into the air. When intercropped in maize and sorghum fields, it repels Chilo partellus, a stem-boring grass moth, and suppresses witchweeds, including Asiatic witchweed (Striga asiatica) and purple witchweed (S. hermonthica).
