Trifolium buckwestiorum |
Trifolium pinetorum |
|
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Santa Cruz clover |
pine clover, pinewoods clover, woods clover |
|
Habit | Herbs annual, 5–40 cm, glabrous. | Herbs perennial, 5–30 cm, glabrous or sparsely pilose; rhizomes absent, roots stout, branched. |
Stems | decumbent to ascending or erect, slightly branched. |
prostrate to ascending, branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules whitish with prominent green veins, ovate, 0.3–0.5 cm, margins lacerate, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 1–2.4 cm; petiolules to 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to elliptic, 0.6–1.5 × 0.3–0.8 cm, base cuneate, veins ± thickened distally, margins denticulate, sometimes entire proximally, apex rounded, acute, or retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
palmate; stipules lanceolate-ovate, 0.7–1.3 cm, margins entire, apex acuminate; petiole 1–8.5 cm; petiolules 1–1.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades oblanceolate or obovate, 0.5–2.9 × 0.4–1.3 cm, base cuneate, veins prominent, margins denticulate to spinulose, apex usually rounded or truncate, sometimes retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, 15–20-flowered (early inflorescences hidden in stipules, subsessile, 2–5-flowered, flowers cleistogamous), subglobose, 0.5–0.8 × 0.6–0.8 cm; involucres flattened or shallowly bowl-shaped, 6–8 mm, when folded, nearly hiding calyces, glabrous or sparsely hairy, lobes 4 or 5, ± parallel-sided, 3 or 4-toothed. |
axillary or terminal, 10–20-flowered, obconic, globose, or subglobose, 1.7–2.5 × 1.–1.5 cm; involucres broadly campanulate, 6–8 mm, incised ± 3/4 their length, lobes 15–20, linear-lanceolate, entire, acuminate. |
Peduncles | 1–3.5 cm. |
4–6 cm. |
Pedicels | straight, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles absent. |
erect to slightly reflexed, 1–2 mm; bracteoles ovate, 0.5 mm. |
Flowers | 7–8 mm; calyx tubular, 4–5 mm, glabrous, veins 10, tube 2–2.5 mm, lobes subequal, triangular, margins conspicuously 2 or 3-toothed, apex aristate, orifice open; corolla pale pink or white, 6–7 mm, banner oblong, 5–7 × 1 mm, apex emarginate or erose. |
10–16 mm; calyx campanulate, 6–10 mm, glabrous, veins 10, tube 2–2.3 mm, lobes ± equal, subulate, 3–5 mm, orifice open; corolla white to pale purple, keel petals with dark purple-red tips, 11–13 mm, banner oblong, 11–13 × 4–5 mm, apex retuse. |
Legumes | ovoid, 2.5 mm. |
short-stipitate, oblong, 3.5–5 mm. |
Seeds | 1, dark brown, slightly mottled, ovoid, 2 mm, smooth. |
1 or 2, olive-brown, mottled purple, oblong, 1.5 mm, smooth, semiglossy. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Trifolium buckwestiorum |
Trifolium pinetorum |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Jun–Oct. |
Habitat | Meadows, roadsides, grassy hillsides. | Disturbed areas in pine, fir, or spruce forests. |
Elevation | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) | 2300–2800 m. (7500–9200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA |
AZ; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua)
|
Discussion | Trifolium buckwestiorum, which ranges from Mendocino to Monterey counties, is unique among clovers in North America because of its aboveground cleistogamous, axillary flowers. The only other clover in North America that produces cleistogamous flowers is T. amphianthum, which produces its cleistogamous flowers at ground level and then pushes them into the substrate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium pinetorum is found in Cochise, Coconino, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties in Arizona, and Catron, Grant, Lincoln, and Otero counties in New Mexico, as well as the Sierra Madre in Chihuahua, Mexico. It occupies disturbed areas in pine-fir-spruce forests, and has adapted well to anthropogenic disturbances, such as roadsides and other graded areas (J. M. Gillett 1980). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. longicaule, T. willdenovii var. longicaule, T. wormskioldii var. longicaule | |
Name authority | Isely: Madroño 39: 90, fig. 2. (1992) | Greene: Erythea 2: 182. (1894) |
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