Trifolium fucatum |
Trifolium hybridum |
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bull clover, sour clover |
Alsike clover |
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Habit | Herbs annual, 10–80 cm, glabrous or glabrescent. | Herbs perennial, 10–70 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. |
Stems | erect or ascending, unbranched or densely dichotomously branched. |
erect or ascending, branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules ovate or lanceolate, 1–3 cm, margins entire or toothed, apex usually acuminate, sometimes 2-fid; petiole 3–15 cm; petiolules 1–1.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades broadly obovate, orbiculate, or rhombic-obovate, 0.8–4 × 0.7–3 cm, base broadly cuneate, veins obscure, thickened near leaflet margin, margins remotely dentate to densely serrulate-dentate, apex rounded or slightly retuse, surfaces glabrous or glabrate. |
palmate; stipules obovate or lanceolate, 1–2.5 cm, margins entire or toothed, apex long-acuminate; petiole 1–21 cm; petiolules 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades usually obovate or ovate, rarely rhombic, 1–4 × 1–2.5 cm, base cuneate, veins prominent, margins sharply serrate, apex broadly acute, obtuse, or emarginate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, 10–30-flowered, subglobose or globose, 1–4 × 1–4 cm; involucres broadly bowl-shaped, 4–15 mm, lobes 3–8, lanceolate, acuminate, undivided or 2- or 3-fid. |
terminal or axillary, 10–70+-flowered, globose to subglobose, 1–2.5 × 1–2.5 cm, rachis not prolonged beyond flowers; involucres absent. |
Peduncles | 3–13 cm. |
2–10 cm. |
Pedicels | straight, 1 mm; bracteoles distinct or connate, broadly ovate, 1 mm. |
strongly reflexed, 2–3.5 mm; bracteoles lanceolate, 1 mm. |
Flowers | 10–27 mm; calyx campanulate, 3–8 mm, glabrous, veins 10, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes 5–10, unequal, undivided or 3-fid, long-acuminate, orifice open; corolla creamy white to yellow, pink to purple in age, keel petals rarely dark purple, 10–27 mm, banner broadly ovate, inflated in fruit, not distally twisted, 10–27 × 6–15 mm, apex rounded, erose. |
8–12 mm; calyx campanulate, 3.5–4 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy, veins 10, tube 1.5–2 mm, lobes unequal, lanceolate-subulate, orifice open; corolla pale to dark pink, 7–10 mm, banner ovate-oblong, 6.5–10.5 × 4–6 mm, apex rounded-denticulate. |
Legumes | stipitate, linear, 7–8 mm. |
stipitate, ellipsoid, 3–7 mm. |
Seeds | 3–8, gray, mottled, globose, 1.6–2 mm, reticulate. |
2–4, tan, brown, or red-brown, mitten-shaped, 1–1.4 mm, smooth, dull. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16. |
Trifolium fucatum |
Trifolium hybridum |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering May–Oct. |
Habitat | Moist places, meadows, roadsides. | Roadsides, open woods, edges, fields, meadows, waste places. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA [Introduced in Asia (China, Japan)]
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AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America, Europe, elsewhere in Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia]
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Discussion | Trifolium fucatum is known as an invasive species in Japan (T. Mito and T. Uesugi 2004) and has also been introduced in China (specimen at BM). A single old collection exists from British Columbia, but the species has not been collected in that province again. The Michigan record of the species is an inadvertent waif. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium hybridum is widely cultivated as a forage crop. It may cause dermatitis in humans (J. W. Hardin and J. M. Arena 1974) and is implicated as a cause of dermatitis and biliary fibrosis in horses (C. Fisher 1995); the connection between the clover and the diseases is inconclusive (P. N. Nation 1989). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. flavulum, T. fucatum var. flavulum, T. fucatum var. gambelii, T. fucatum var. virescens, T. gambelii, T. physopetalum, T. virescens | Amoria hybrida, T. elegans |
Name authority | Lindley: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 22: plate 1883. (1836) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 766. (1753) |
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