Trifolium amoenum |
Trifolium tomentosum |
|
---|---|---|
showy Indian clover, two-fork clover |
woolly clover |
|
Habit | Herbs annual, 45–65 cm, canescent. | Herbs annual, 10–20 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. |
Stems | erect, branched from base and distally, or unbranched. |
prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched. |
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 ovate or triangular-lanceolate, 0.4–1.2 cm, margins entire, apex acute or acuminate; petiole 0.5–7 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate, obcordate, or elliptic, 0.4–1.5 × 0.3–1 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately prominent, margins denticulate, apex rounded or emarginate, surfaces sparsely hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, 30–50-flowered, bluntly conic, ellipsoid, globose, or subglobose, 1.5–3 × 1.5–2.5 cm; involucres absent. |
axillary, 10–20-flowered, subglobose, soon becoming globose, flowers resupinate, calyces densely white-woolly, compacted, inflated, 0.5–1.5 × 0.5–1.5 cm; involucres a narrow rim, 0.2 mm. |
Peduncles | 5–15 cm. |
0.5–1.5 cm. |
Pedicels | absent; bracteoles cuplike, to 0.5 mm. |
slightly reflexed, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles cup-shaped, membranous, 0.2 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. |
3–7 mm; calyx tubular, inflated in fruit, markedly asymmetric-bilabiate, 2–6 mm, woolly adaxially, veins 5–10, connected by lateral veins, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, 4–5 mm in fruit, lobes unequal, subulate, shorter than tube, adaxial spreading or curved, orifice open, abruptly constricted in fruit; corolla pink, 3–6 mm, banner ovate, 3–6 × 3–6 mm, apex emarginate to crenulate. |
Legumes | obovoid, 4 mm. |
ovoid to globose, 2–3 mm. |
Seeds | 1, dark brown, ellipsoid, 2–3 mm, smooth. |
1 or 2, yellow to brown, mottled, mitten-shaped, 0.9–1.1 mm, smooth, glossy. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Trifolium amoenum |
Trifolium tomentosum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–May. | Flowering Feb–Apr. |
Habitat | Grassy slopes, swales, clay soils. | Sandy lawns, fields, meadows, roadsides, clay soils among vernal pools. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 0–400 m. (0–1300 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
|
CA; FL; MA; NC; SC; s Europe (Mediterranean); sw Asia; n Africa; Atlantic Islands (Azores) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Chile), s Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
|
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 tomentosum is occasionally cultivated as a forage crop (F. J. Hermann 1953) and is becoming weedy in the flora area and in Australia (R. P. Randall 2002). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Greene: Fl. Francisc., 27. (1891) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 771. (1753) |
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