beggarweed or tick trefoil, leguminous plant (Desmodium purpureum) native to the West Indies and sown in the S United States for green manure and for forage; it has high nutritive value and is palatable to stock. The pods are covered with tiny hooked hairs and cling as burs. Other species of the genus are weeds often called by the same names, as are some other weeds with burs. Beggarweed is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae.
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