Trifolium eriocephalum |
Trifolium attenuatum |
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woolly-head clover |
Rocky Mountain clover |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, 12–46 cm, sparsely hairy to densely villous, appressed-pubescent, or glabrate. | Herbs perennial, 5–30 cm, pubescent. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect or decumbent, branched. |
erect or ascending, cespitose, branched from base, numerous short stems. |
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Leaves | palmate; stipules lanceolate or ovate, 1–5 cm, margins entire or denticulate, apex acuminate or acute; petiole 1–15 cm; petiolules 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades linear, linear-elliptic, elliptic, lanceolate, lanceolate-oblong, or obovate, 1–5 × 0.4–1.2 cm, base cuneate, veins fine or ± thickened, margins denticulate or serrulate, apex acuminate or acute, surfaces appressed-pubescent abaxially, glabrous, densely villous, or sparsely or densely pilose adaxially. |
palmate; stipules lanceolate, 1.8–2 cm, margins entire, apex acute-acuminate; petiole 2.5–10 cm; petiolules to 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades linear, lanceolate, or narrowly elliptic, 1.5–6 × 0.3–1 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately thickened, margins entire, apex acuminate or narrowly acute, surfaces glabrous or pubescent. |
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Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, 25–70-flowered, inverted or horizontal, ellipsoid or globose to subglobose, 2–3 × 1–3 cm, rachis prolonged beyond flowers; involucres absent. |
axillary or terminal, 10–20+-flowered, globose, 2.3–3.5 × 2.5–4 cm; involucres formed of proximal bracteoles, bases sometimes connate. |
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Peduncles | bent distally, proximal to flowers, 3–18 cm. |
2–28 cm. |
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Pedicels | reflexed, to 0.3 mm; bracteoles absent. |
reflexed in fruit, 2–4 mm; bracteoles ovate, 2–4 mm, truncate or acuminate. |
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Flowers | 9–18 mm; calyx campanulate, curved in fruit, 4–11 mm, villous, veins 10, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes unequal, 2–3 times tube, subulate, often strongly curved and twisted, plumose, orifice open; corolla white, cream, or purple, 8–16 mm, banner oblanceolate, 8–16 × 3–5 mm, apex rounded or retuse, recurved; ovaries pubescent distally. |
15–22 mm; calyx campanulate, 8–15 mm, pubescent, veins 10, tube 2.5–7 mm, lobes unequal, subulate, orifice open; corolla red-purple, 16–20 mm, banner broadly oblong-elliptic, 16–20 × 6–7 mm, apex acute, apiculate. |
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Legumes | ovoid, 2–3.5 mm. |
oblong, 5–6 mm. |
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Seeds | (1 or)2–4, yellow-brown to brown, mitten-shaped or subglobose, 1.2–2 mm, smooth. |
1–3, brown, ovoid-reniform, 2.5 mm, smooth. |
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2n | = 16, 48. |
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Trifolium eriocephalum |
Trifolium attenuatum |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Subalpine and alpine slopes, open montane forests. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 3000–3800 m. [9800–12500 ft.] | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
w United States
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CO; NM
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Discussion | Subspecies 6 (6 in the flora). Trifolium eriocephalum was revised by J. M. Gillett (1971). The subspecies exhibit unusually complex distributional patterns, and overlapping morphological features sometimes make identifications problematic (M. Zohary and D. Heller 1984). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium attenuatum ranges from Park County in Colorado southward through southern and southwestern Colorado to northern and central New Mexico. J. M. Gillett (1965) found both diploid and hexaploid populations of Trifolium attenuatum but was unable to find morphological distinctions between diploid and hexaploid individuals. Using flavonoid chemotaxonomy, E. V. Parups et al. (1966) found close associations between T. attenuatum, T. brandegeei, and T. haydenii. Trifolium lilacinum Rydberg (1901), which pertains here, is a later homonym of T. lilacinum Greene (1896) and thus illegitimate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | T. bracteolatum, T. petraeum, T. stenolobum | |||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall in J. Torrey and A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 313. (1838) | Greene: Pittonia 4: 137. (1900) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Web links |