Trifolium amoenum |
Trifolium repens |
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showy Indian clover, two-fork clover |
Dutch clover, trèfle blanc, white clover |
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Habit | Herbs annual, 45–65 cm, canescent. | Herbs perennial, 10–40 cm, glabrous or glabrescent. |
Stems | erect, branched from base and distally, or unbranched. |
creeping, branched, rooting at nodes. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules ovate-oblong, 0.5–1.8 cm, margins entire, toothed, or irregularly lobed, apex acuminate; petiole 0.5–10 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades broadly obovate or elliptic, 1.7–3.3 × 1.1–2 cm, base cuneate, veins fine, margins entire or denticulate, apex rounded, obtuse, or retuse, surfaces pilose, abaxial less so. |
palmate; stipules lanceolate, 0.9–1.3 cm, margins entire, apex short-subulate; petiole 5–20 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate, obcordate, or orbiculate, 0.6–4 × 0.4–2.5 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately prominent, margins serrulate distally, apex rounded, emarginate, or retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, 30–50-flowered, bluntly conic, ellipsoid, globose, or subglobose, 1.5–3 × 1.5–2.5 cm; involucres absent. |
axillary, 20–40+-flowered, globose, 1.5–3.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm; involucres absent. |
Peduncles | 5–15 cm. |
erect, from prostrate stems, 1.5–30 cm. |
Pedicels | absent; bracteoles cuplike, to 0.5 mm. |
strongly reflexed in fruit, elongate, 3–5 mm; bracteoles white, lanceolate, 1–2 mm. |
Flowers | 13–16 mm; calyx tubular, 9–12 mm, pubescent, veins 20–30, tube 3 mm, lobes nearly equal, appearing rigidly erect, linear-setaceous, plumose, sinuses acute, orifice open; corolla white to pink with purple tips, 12–16 mm, banner ovate-oblong, 12–15 × 4 mm, apex broadly rounded, emarginate. |
8–13 mm; calyx campanulate, 3–5 mm, glabrous, veins 6–10, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes unequal to subequal, adaxial shorter than tube, triangular-lanceolate, orifice open; corolla white, often pinkish in age, 4–12 mm, banner ovate-lanceolate or oblong, 4–12 × 1–4 mm, apex rounded. |
Legumes | obovoid, 4 mm. |
linear-oblong, 4–5 mm. |
Seeds | 1, dark brown, ellipsoid, 2–3 mm, smooth. |
3 or 4, yellow, reddish brown, or light brown, ovoid-reniform, 1 mm, smooth, glossy. |
2n | = 16, 28, 32, 48, 64. |
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Trifolium amoenum |
Trifolium repens |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–May. | Flowering Feb–Oct. |
Habitat | Grassy slopes, swales, clay soils. | Fields, lawns, roadsides, forest edges, waste places. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 0–4000 m. (0–13100 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
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AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; Eurasia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America, Africa, Pacific Islands]
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Discussion | Trifolium amoenum was considered extinct (J. P. Smith Jr. 1984) but was rediscovered in 1993 (P. G. Connors 1994). Specimens of T. amoenum are known from Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma counties; it appears to be extant in only single populations in each of Marin and Solano counties. Allozyme studies of the two known populations revealed fixed genetic differences between them (E. E. Knapp and Connors 1999). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium repens may very well be the most important temperate pasture plant (M. J. Baker and W. M. Williams 1987) and has been considered the most important perennial pasture plant in North America (C. V. Piper 1924). It was introduced at least as early as the mid 1800s (R. N. Mack 2003) and spread so rapidly that it became known to Native Americans as White Man’s Foot Grass (W. Strickland 1801). It is morphologically diverse; most material from the flora area represents var. repens, but some specimens fit within the circumscriptions given by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984) of var. giganteum Lagrèze-Fossat, with inflorescences to 3.5 cm diameter and leaflets nearly 4 cm; others have smaller, pale-pink petals with hairy petioles and pedicels, and approach var. biasolettii (Steudel & Hochstetter) Ascherson & Graebner (T. occidentale Coombe). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. saxicola | |
Name authority | Greene: Fl. Francisc., 27. (1891) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 767. (1753) |
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