Lespedeza repens
Fabaceae

Another new-to-me species from recent forays upstream of my usual hunting grounds.  As the name suggests, this is a plant that lies along the ground, though it isn’t a vine; it simply has a reclining habit, as they say.  It can grow to 3 feet long.

Creeping bush-clover is one of 26 Lespedezas (alien, native, and hybrids) found in the continental US; it ranges from Texas to Wisconsin and eastwards, but not all the way north into New England.  It’s a plant of special concern in Connecticut and rare in New York.

Strangely, it’s listed on invasives.org, but with no particular notes about why.

I found a few of these plants near the boardwalk on Olmsted Island; as a result, I couldn’t get very close to study them (it’s prohibited to leave the boardwalk there).  Thank goodness for the zoom-in feature in Lightroom.  It’s possible that this is a different species, L. procumbens.  I posted the pictures to several internet groups asking for confirmation; there was agreement about the genus, but only a few people stated outright the species.