Trifolium cyathiferum |
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bowl clover, cup clover |
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Habit | Herbs annual, 5–50 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | erect, branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules ovate to lanceolate, 0.6–1.2 cm, margins entire, toothed, or lacerate, apex acute or aristate; petiole 1–10 cm; petiolules to 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate, elliptic, or oblanceolate, 0.5–2.5 × 0.3–1.5 cm, base cuneate, veins prominent, green, margins finely toothed, apex rounded, blunt, or retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | axillary or terminal, 1–35-flowered, subglobose or ovoid, 0.5–1.8 × 0.5–2 cm; involucres broadly bowl-shaped, 4–22 mm, shallowly incised, lobes 3–15, toothed, broad, acute. |
Peduncles | 1–8 cm. |
Pedicels | straight, 0.1–0.2 mm; bracteoles absent. |
Flowers | 7–15 mm; calyx campanulate, inflated in fruit, 6–13 mm, glabrous, veins 13–20, tube 3–7 mm, lobes unequal, strongly oblique, broadly triangular, apex setaceous, adaxial unbranched, abaxial and lateral conspicuously 2- or 3-fid, segments glabrous, sometimes flattened, orifice open; corolla usually creamy white or rose to pink, sometimes whitish with pinkish tips, 6–13 mm, banner obovate or elliptic, proximally inflated in fruit, distally narrowed into twisted tip, 6–13 × 3–6 mm, apex rounded to broadly acute. |
Legumes | ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow-brown, ovoid, 0.4–0.6 mm, smooth. |
2n | = 16. |
Trifolium cyathiferum |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Oct. |
Habitat | Wet meadows, roadsides, fields. |
Elevation | 0–2700 m. (0–8900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; BC; YT [Introduced in Asia (China, Japan)]
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Discussion | Trifolium cyathiferum may be of hybrid origin; phylogenetic studies indicate it has the same trnL intron sequence as T. buckwestiorum, T. polyodon, and T. variegatum and nrDNA and combined analyses place it in a clade with other species (T. barbigerum, T. fucatum, T. jokerstii, and T. physanthum Hooker & Arnott) that have inflated fruiting corollas (N. W. Ellison et al. 2006). The single record of Trifolium cyathiferum labeled as from Utah is likely mislabeled (S. L. Welsh et al. 2008). Populations in Yukon may be introductions. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Lindley: Bot. Reg. 13: sub plate 1070. (1827) |
Web links |
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