• Lespedeza capitata (Round-headed Bush Clover) native plant in bloom
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Lespedeza capitata (Round-headed Bush Clover)

Lespedeza capitata (Round-headed Bush Clover)

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Round-headed bush clover flowers toward late summer and fall on upright stems. It handles dry conditions well, though lower leaves may yellow and drop during drought.

For Lespedeza capitata, choose full sun and mesic to dry soil. Recorded habitats include mesic to dry black-soil prairies; Sand, gravel and hill prairies; Loamy and sandy savannas; Limestone glades; Lakeshore dunes. Reported height: 2-5 ft.

Its below-ground structure is described as taproot. Choose the permanent location with that root structure and the mature size in mind. Planning the surrounding space at planting time reduces the need to reorganize an established bed later.

Plant specifications & ecological relationships

Key growing facts

Sunlight Full sun
Soil moisture Mesic to dry
Height 2-5 ft
Bloom season Late summer to early fall
Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
Growth habit Upright perennial, largely unbranched below the flower clusters
Root form Taproot
Soil pH 5.7–8.2
Cultivation hardiness zones Zones 4a–8b (general cultivation guidance)
Drought tolerance Strong drought resistance; lower leaves may yellow and drop
Deer browsing Deer browse the plant according to the Illinois account.
Salt tolerance None

Plant identification & seed reference

Botanical name Lespedeza capitata
Other common names round-headed bush clover; Bush Clover; Round-headed Bush Clover
Plant family Fabaceae
Seeds per pound — reference estimate128000. Clean seeds per pound; approximate species average, not a seed-lot test or PLS percentage.
USDA NRCS Iowa Native Seed Calculator (2024), species reference table, PDF p. 20; 8000 seeds/oz × 16; https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/api/CPSFile/47969/Native_Seeding_Calculator_2024
Reviewed: 2026-09-26. Reference review status: reference difference.

Plant characteristics

Lespedeza capitata is a legume that can be found in mesic to dry prairies and savannas. It has upright stems that will remain strong well into the winter even with heavy snow and providing some interest into the following spring. The small white flowers cluster together to form small heads attracting a variety of bees and catepillars. Associates of this plant are Amorpha canescens and Oligoneuron rigidum. 

  • Flower Color White
  • Flower Time August, September
    • Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associates

    Documented Illinois communities

    Successional dry sand prairie — Primms Prairie

    Lost Mound — Jo Daviess County, Illinois; 2005 survey.

    Other native plants recorded in this survey area: Asclepias syriaca, Asclepias verticillata, Brickellia eupatorioides, Eragrostis spectabilis, Juniperus virginiana, Koeleria macrantha, Monarda punctata, Panicum virgatum, Prunus serotina, Rhus aromatica, Rosa carolina, Sorghastrum nutans.

    Selected species from the ground layer. The survey includes disturbance and succession; these records do not specify immediate neighbors or planting proportions.

    Mature dry sand prairie

    Big River Natural Area — Henderson County, Illinois; 2005 survey.

    Other native plants recorded in this survey area: Bouteloua hirsuta, Eragrostis spectabilis, Euphorbia corollata, Koeleria macrantha, Monarda punctata, Quercus velutina, Rhus aromatica, Rhus glabra, Schizachyrium scoparium, Solidago nemoralis, Solidago speciosa, Ambrosia psilostachya.

    Selected species from the ground layer. The survey includes disturbance and succession; these records do not specify immediate neighbors or planting proportions.

    Late-successional dry sand prairie

    Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve — Carroll County, Illinois; 2004 survey.

    Other native plants recorded in this survey area: Asclepias verticillata, Aster ericoides, Eragrostis spectabilis, Euphorbia corollata, Koeleria macrantha, Liatris aspera, Panicum virgatum, Schizachyrium scoparium, Solidago nemoralis, Viola pedata, Ambrosia psilostachya, Aristida tuberculosa.

    Selected species from the ground layer. The survey includes disturbance and succession; these records do not specify immediate neighbors or planting proportions.

    Illinois plant communities

    Mesic black-soil prairie — central Illinois

    Recorded at Loda Cemetery Prairie (Iroquois County), Prospect Cemetery Prairie (Ford County), Weston Cemetery Prairie (McLean County). INHS identifies these sites as remnants of this community.

    Selected native plants from the same remnant records:

    These inventories include edges and disturbed patches. Shared remnant records do not establish that every plant grows together in one microsite.

    Illinois plant communities

    These regional accounts place this plant and the plants below in the same type of natural community. A community list does not mean that every species grew together in one plot. Use the habitat and location to understand the relationship; it is not a planting recipe.

    Green River community records

    Dry sand prairie: Lee County, Illinois (2006). Selected catalog plants recorded in this community: Amorpha canescens; Antennaria plantaginifolia; Asclepias verticillata; Coreopsis lanceolata; Euphorbia corollata; Koeleria macrantha.

    Dry-mesic sand prairie: Lee County, Illinois (2006). Selected catalog plants recorded in this community: Andropogon gerardii; Antennaria plantaginifolia; Asclepias verticillata; Euphorbia corollata; Liatris aspera; Parthenium integrifolium.

    Mesic sand prairie: Lee County, Illinois (2006). Selected catalog plants recorded in this community: Andropogon gerardii; Antennaria neglecta; Antennaria plantaginifolia; Fragaria virginiana; Liatris pycnostachya; Panicum virgatum.

    The study site includes restoration plantings. Community records do not establish county-native origin or a seed-mix recipe.

    Other regional plant communities

    These plants are named with this species in published vegetation accounts. Each list keeps its community and region; some records describe a shared vegetation type rather than neighboring plants in a measured plot. They are ecological records, not a planting recipe, and may include plants unsuitable for a particular garden.

    • Cedar glades (Kentucky): Juniperus virginiana.
    Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value

    State nativity describes a broad range. Use the Chicago-region assessment for local context; a state listing does not establish county nativity.

    Wetland indicator — NWPL 2022 Midwest FACU
    C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 4
    Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 Yes
    Native range — U.S. states Alabama; Arkansas; Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Nebraska; New York; North Carolina; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Tennessee; Vermont; Virginia; West Virginia; Wisconsin
    County nativity Not yet verified; occurrence records do not establish nativity.
    Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlife

    Caterpillars & other plant-feeding insects

    This plant has published caterpillar host records for the butterflies and moths listed below. These are larval feeding relationships, separate from adult nectar visits. The records span a North American literature compilation and do not establish that every insect occurs locally or uses only this plant.

    Butterflies & skippers

    • Cecropterus bathyllus — Southern Cloudywing
    • Cecropterus pylades — Northern Cloudywing
    • Cupido comyntas — Eastern Tailed-Blue
    • Epargyreus clarus — Silver-Spotted Skipper
    • Strymon melinus — Gray Hairstreak

    Moths

    • Dasylophia anguina — Black-Spotted Prominent
    • Porphyrosela desmodiella

    Other insect & wildlife relationships

    Caterpillars this plant can feed

    Eastern Tailed-Blue.

    Additional published species records; Illinois insect occurrence is not established by this account. These records do not guarantee that every insect occurs at your planting site.

    Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions

    What are the ideal growing conditions for Round-headed Bush Clover?
    Light: Full sun. Soil moisture: Mesic to dry.

    Is Round-headed Bush Clover deer and herbivore resistant?
    Deer browse the plant according to the Illinois account. Even plants described as resistant may be browsed. Use physical protection where deer damage is a concern.

    When should I expect Round-headed Bush Clover to bloom?
    Typical flowering period: Late summer to early fall. Timing varies with location and weather.

    Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes

    Native landscaping evidence: These planting suggestions draw on published growing requirements, mature form and spread. Placement and maintenance advice reflects landscape design judgment using these sources: Lespedeza capitata; Liatris aspera; Eryngium yuccifolium; Silphium integrifolium.

    Illinois communities & local records: INHS: Loda, Prospect and Weston prairie records; INHS: Illinois sand-area plant communities; Ebinger et al.: Green River communities (2009).

    Native range & ecological ratings: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), via Universal FQA; USACE Chicago FQA (2017); Kew WCVP / Plants of the World Online; USACE National Wetland Plant List.

    Growing conditions & other references: Illinois Wildflowers, John Hilty; USDA Forest Service: Juniperus virginiana; USDA NRCS PLANTS; NC State Extension Plant Toolbox.

    Wildlife records: Shropshire & Tallamy: caterpillar hosts (2025).

    Native range does not identify the origin of the seed or plants offered. Community and wildlife records apply to the locations and conditions described.

    Research notes & credits

    USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication. Retained for comparison; the displayed C-value follows Flora database 80.

    Range data: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 4 June 2026 release, accessed 7 September 2026. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data. This use has no Kew endorsement.

    Caterpillar host records: Shropshire, K.J. & Tallamy, D.W. (2025), Lepidoptera of North America, Supplement 1. Contains information from this database made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Natural Communities selected species-level records and screened source qualifications. The complete selection and transformation instructions for this page are available below under the same license.

    Source: Phillippe, L.R., Molano-Flores, B., Murphy, M.J.C., Marcum, P.B. & Ebinger, J.E. (2011), Status of Endangered and Threatened Sand Area Species of the Illinois Flora, Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 39(4):259–296. © 2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees; CC BY 4.0. Selected community facts regrouped and described by Natural Communities. Historical source names retained; no current legal conservation status is asserted.

    Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.

    Caterpillar research records

    Plant: Lespedeza capitata

    Record scope: Host literature synthesis; no county nativity or local insect occurrence inferred.

    Shropshire & Tallamy (2025) · Original research dataset · Reuse license: ODbL-1.0

    Plant names in the source Source insect record IDs
    Lespedeza capitata 202530, 202547, 203687, 203816, 204686, 210393, 211907

    How these records were selected

    To reproduce this selection, use the “UDELep May 2025” worksheet in the original research dataset.

    1. Match the insect record IDs above to column A (UDLepID). Within each table row, pair every listed insect ID with every listed source plant name.
    2. Use the first two words in column H for the insect’s scientific name, column E for its common name, and column AB for its source category.
    3. Treat the selected pairs as reported caterpillar host records. Keep all other source fields unchanged and outside this selected table. Include no other rows or host pairs.
    4. Group butterflies and skippers together, and the other categories as moths. Retain the source’s exotic-category labels and sort display names by scientific insect name.

    Survey communities: Ebinger et al. (2006), Tables 1–12, Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin. CC BY 4.0; adapted as dated presence lists, with the source’s non-native records excluded from the displayed native lists.

    Growing guidance: Illinois Extension — Keeping deer out of the yard and garden. Selected facts in original wording. General deer advice is not a species resistance rating.


    Planting references and review

    Reviewed: 2026-09-26

    Plant spacing:Species-specific spacing needs review. Select a spacing suited to your site and planting design.

    Seeding rate: Use a site- and method-specific specification. No verified automatic species rate is supplied.

    Seed preparation: A species-specific preparation method and named code system need confirmation for the supplied seed lot.

    Plant Shipping & Care

    We want to ensure that our customers get what they want, a native backyard oasis. To do that, we need to follow a few simple guidelines and give you some information and pointers to make sure you get your plants delivered in a healthy state.

    As a reminder, you will receive an email to confirm your pickup or shipping window just before the plants are ready. See Order Fulfillment below for seasonal fulfillment windows.

     

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    Order Fulfilment - When Your Plants or Other Items Will Be Ready

    We take orders all year long and seed is shipped all year, but we only provide the plants to you in certain fulfillment windows to ensure healthy plants.

    Wholesale Orders

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    Retail & Website Orders

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    • If a plant order is placed while outside of the plant fulfillment window your plants will be reserved through your payment, however, the order will not be fulfilled and shipped until the following spring. We don't want to provide you plants when they won't be happy during the cold winter months. 
    • Early in the spring and later in the fall certain species may be dormant or partially dormant with brown leaves, however they will return to grow healthy next growing season.
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    • If certain plants within an order will not be available until a later date, we may choose to hold the full order until all are ready.  In certain circumstances, we may choose to send them in two separate shipments 
    • Fulfillment is always dependent upon plant availability.  We try our best but sometimes plants do not overwinter well and perish.  If a plant is on back order you will receive an email indicating the estimated shipping date.  If we can not provide the plant we will first notify you and give you an option of substitution or a refund of that individual species.
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    Where We Ship

    Natural Communities ships native plants and seed from multiple supplier locations across the Midwest. Shipping coverage extends beyond our local consultation area; see the shipping map below. Availability and delivery options depend on the product and destination. Check the product details and shipping options at checkout, or contact us before ordering if you need help confirming coverage.

    Our on-site ecological consulting serves the greater Chicago region and southeastern Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee area. Consultations take place at your property by appointment. Our offices are not walk-in retail stores or plant pickup sites.

     

     

          What to Expect When Receiving Your Delivery

          • Your plants will be packaged with the utmost care
          • We will need to cut back certain plants prior to shipping. This seems counter-intuitive, however, the fewer leaves the less water the plants can lose during shipping, resulting in healthier plants for you. This also enables the plants to fit within the protective packaging and shipped safely.

           

             Shipments

            • Larger plant shipments will look similar to the picture below with a tray of your plants and a cardboard box to protect them during shipping.

             

             

            What to Do With Your Plants After  Receiving Your Delivery

            • Unpack your order IMMEDIATELY
            • Inspect for damage and report any issues immediately to Natives@NaturalCommunities.net
            • Water your plants
            • Install your plants as quickly as possible and water the entire garden area thoroughly
            • If you cannot install your plants immediately
              • Some plants may not be in a container, put them into some kind of a container such as a paper cup with loose soil until installation
              • Make sure each plant is receiving the appropriate amount of light.
              • Continue to water daily each morning and possibly again in the afternoon
              • No additional fertilizer is needed
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