Trifolium eriocephalum |
Trifolium variegatum |
|||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
woolly-head clover |
variegated clover, white-tip clover |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Habit | Herbs perennial, 12–46 cm, sparsely hairy to densely villous, appressed-pubescent, or glabrate. | Herbs annual, 1.5–48+ cm, glabrous. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect or decumbent, branched. |
usually erect, ascending, or prostrate, branched. |
||||||||||||||||||||
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 or ovate, 0.3–1 cm, margins lacerate, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 1–9 cm; petiolules to 0.8 mm; leaflets 3, blades elliptic, obovate, oblanceolate, or obcordate, 0.2–5 × 0.1–1.2 cm, base cuneate, veins thickened, margins denticulate, apex acute or retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
||||||||||||||||||||
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. |
terminal or axillary, 1–20+-flowered, subglobose or globose, 0.5–1.3 × 0.1–1 cm; involucres flat, 2–6 mm, incised 1/2 their length, lobes 2–7, lacerate. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Peduncles | bent distally, proximal to flowers, 3–18 cm. |
0.5–5 cm. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Pedicels | reflexed, to 0.3 mm; bracteoles absent. |
straight, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles absent. |
||||||||||||||||||||
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. |
5–11 mm; calyx campanulate, not slit between adaxial lobes, 1.9–2.4 mm, glabrous, veins 10–20, tube 1.5–4 mm, lobes subequal, narrowly triangular, margins usually entire, rarely with a small lateral tooth, orifice open; corolla purple, usually white-tipped, 3–10 mm, banner obovate, 3–10 × 0.6–2.6 mm, apex emarginate. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Legumes | ovoid, 2–3.5 mm. |
oblong or ellipsoid, 2–4 mm. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Seeds | (1 or)2–4, yellow-brown to brown, mitten-shaped or subglobose, 1.2–2 mm, smooth. |
2, blackish brown, sometimes mottled, ovoid or ellipsoid, 1–1.6 mm, smooth. |
||||||||||||||||||||
2n | = 16. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Trifolium eriocephalum |
Trifolium variegatum |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Wet places, coastal hills, meadows. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–2500 m. [0–8200 ft.] | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
w United States
|
AK; AZ; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
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 variegatum is widespread and morphologically variable (B. G. Foster and M. A. Vincent 2018). Because of this variability, T. variegatum and related species were treated as seven so-called phases by D. Isely (1998), who described these as ecotypic groups, some of which might deserve varietal or specific rank. C. S. Cooper (1957) considered T. variegatum a good choice for cultivation in wet areas for grazing and hay production. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | T. dianthum, T. geminiflorum, T. melananthum, T. pusillum, T. spinulosum var. triste, T. subsalinum, T. tridentatum var. melananthum, T. ultramontanum, T. variegatum var. geminiflorum, T. variegatum var. melananthum | |||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall in J. Torrey and A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 313. (1838) | Nuttall in J. Torrey and A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 317. (1838) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Web links |
|