Trifolium bejariense |
Trifolium polyodon |
|
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bejar clover |
Pacific grove clover, woods or Pacific grove clover |
|
Habit | Herbs annual, 5–25 cm, pilose. | Herbs annual, 10–60 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
decumbent or ascending, branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules oblong to ovate, 0.8–1 cm, margins slightly denticulate or entire, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 1–5 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate, 0.7–1.4 × 0.3–0.8 cm, base broadly cuneate, veins thickened, recurved, margins slightly denticulate, apex rounded or retuse, surfaces pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
palmate; stipules lanceolate to ovate, 0.4–1.8 cm, margins lacerate, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 0.5–6 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades broadly elliptic to broadly obovate, 0.4–2.5 × 0.4–1.5 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately thickened, margins dentate-serrulate, apex rounded or truncate, often retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | axillary or terminal, 5–15-flowered, globose or subglobose, 1–2 × 1.5–2 cm; involucres floral bracts forming a small, scarious involucre. |
axillary, 10–25-flowered, subglobose or globose, 1–1.8 × 1–1.8 cm; involucres flattened or bowl-shaped, 4–7 mm, incised 1/2 their length, when folded, not hiding flowers except proximally, lobes 5–12, dentate-lacerate, spinulose. |
Peduncles | geniculate proximal to flowers, inflorescence appearing inverted, 2.5–11 cm. |
1–2 cm. |
Pedicels | curved, 3–4 mm; bracteoles broadly rhombic, membranous, to 0.5 mm, margins dentate. |
straight, to 1 mm; bracteoles absent. |
Flowers | 7–9 mm; calyx campanulate, markedly bilabiate, venation strongly reticulate, 5–6 mm, sparsely pilose marginally, veins 5, reticulate in lobes, tube 0.7–1 mm, lobes unequal, abaxial 3 triangular-ovate, 2–3 mm, central abaxial lobe nearly linear, pubescent only along margins, adaxial 2 obovate, 5 mm, orifice open; corolla white, tinged with pink or lavender, darkening in age, 6–8 mm, banner broadly ovate, 6–8 × 5–6 mm, apex rounded, denticulate. |
8–10 mm; calyx campanulate-tubular, not slit between adaxial lobes, 5–7 mm, glabrous, veins 20, tube 1.9–2.4 mm, lobes unequal, 3-fid or laciniate, often appearing 7+-lobed, orifice open; corolla pink or pale purple, 8–9 mm, banner elliptic, 8–9 × 2–3 mm, apex retuse. |
Legumes | oblong-ovoid, 3–4 mm. |
ellipsoid, 3.5–4 mm. |
Seeds | 2–6, yellow, globose to mitten-shaped, 1.1–1.6 mm, rugose. |
2, dark brown, mottled, ovoid or reniform, 1.7–1.9 mm, smooth. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Trifolium bejariense |
Trifolium polyodon |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–May. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Sandy prairies, open woods. | Along streams, moist meadows. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 0–150 m. (0–500 ft.) |
Distribution |
AR; LA; TX |
CA |
Discussion | Trifolium bejariense ranges in east-central Texas from Hunt and Lamar counties in the north, southward to Fort Bend and Harris counties, and westward to Travis and Wilson counties; the species is also known from Acadia and Rapides parishes in Louisiana, and Nevada County in Arkansas. L. F. McDermott reduced Trifolium bejariense to T. carolinianum forma bejariense (Moricand) McDermott. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The taxonomic status of Trifolium polyodon, known only from Monterey County, has long been debated. W. L. Jepson (1936) considered it a variety of T. tridentatum Lindley (= T. willdenovii). The first to consider it as a variety of T. variegatum was J. S. Martin (1943), who never formally published a new combination; an invalid combination was made by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984). D. Isely (1998) included it in his interpretation of T. variegatum as phase 5 of that species; he speculated that T. polyodon might have originated as a hybrid of T. variegatum and T. willdenovii. Molecular studies (N. W. Ellison et al. 2006) showed that T. polyodon is closely related to T. variegatum but is distinct; it also appears to be related to T. cyathiferum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. macrocalyx | T. tridentatum var. polyodon |
Name authority | Moricand: Pl. Nouv. Amér., 2, plate 2. (1834) | Greene: Pittonia 3: 215. (1897) |
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