Trifolium hirtum |
Trifolium oliganthum |
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rose clover |
few-flower clover, few-flowerered clover |
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Habit | Herbs annual, 10–35 cm, densely spreading-hairy. | Herbs annual, 10–50 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | curved-ascending, branched. |
erect, dichotomously branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules lanceolate-ovate, 0.8–1.8 cm, margins entire, apex long-setaceous; petiole 0.5–5 cm; petiolules 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to oblong, 0.8–2.5 × 0.5–1.3 cm, base cuneate, veins prominent, closely-spaced, margins denticulate distally, apex rounded, surfaces densely spreading-hairy. |
palmate; stipules lanceolate, 0.4–1.2 cm, margins lacerate, apex subulate; petiole 0.5–4 cm; petiolules to 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades linear, oblong, oblanceolate, or elliptic, 0.5–2.5 × 0.1–0.5 cm, base cuneate, veins fine or moderately thickened, margins entire, spinulose, or dentate, apex rounded or truncate, mucronate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal on branches, 10–50-flowered, globose or ovoid, disarticulating in fruit, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2.5 cm; involucres absent, involucrelike structures formed by enlarged stipules. |
axillary or terminal, 3–15-flowered, obconic, 0.3–1.2 × 0.3–0.8 cm; involucres flattened to bowl-shaped, 1–2 mm, when folded, not hiding flowers except proximally, incised 4/5–9/10 their length, lobes lanceolate-subulate. |
Peduncles | absent. |
2.5–7.5 cm. |
Pedicels | absent; bracteoles absent. |
erect, 0.5–2 mm; bracteoles absent. |
Flowers | 10–17 mm; calyx campanulate, 7–11 mm, pilose, veins 20, tube 2–5 mm, lobes subequal, abaxial slightly longer, orifice hairy, open; corolla purplish red, 10–14 mm, banner lanceolate, 10–14 × 1–2 mm, apex acute-acuminate. |
11–16 mm; calyx campanulate, slit between adaxial lobes, 4–5 mm, glabrous, veins 10, tube 2.5–5.2 mm, lobes triangular-subulate, 3-fid or shouldered below apex, orifice open; corolla lavender with white tips, keel petals purple, 6–8 mm, banner narrowly ovate-oblong, 6–8 × 2 mm, apex narrowly rounded, erose. |
Legumes | ovoid, leathery distally, transversely dehiscent, 2–3 mm. |
sessile, oblong, 2.1–3.2 mm. |
Seeds | 1, tan or brown, globose-ellipsoid, 1.5–2 mm, smooth, glossy. |
1 or 2 (or 3), reddish brown, mottled, lenticular or reniform, 1.2–1.3 mm, smooth. |
2n | = 10. |
= 16. |
Trifolium hirtum |
Trifolium oliganthum |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Mar–Jul. |
Habitat | Fields, roadsides. | Stream banks, grassy, rocky slopes, meadows, fields. |
Elevation | 0–2100 m. (0–6900 ft.) | 0–1100 m. (0–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; CA; FL; LA; NC; OR; TN; VA; s Europe; w Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in s Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
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CA; OR; WA; BC
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Discussion | Trifolium hirtum was first cultivated in California in the 1940s as a forage plant and as a nitrogen source in roadside grass plantings (R. M. Love 1985); it is now widespread in that state. It was reported for Kentucky by D. Isely (1998); no non-cultivated specimens have been seen from that state (M. A. Vincent 2001). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium oliganthum is relatively common throughout much of its range in California; it is found in a few scattered sites northward into Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Even though it closely resembles T. variegatum, it is placed near T. bifidum in molecular studies (N. W. Ellison et al. 2006). Trifolium hexanthum Greene ex A. Heller, which pertains here, is not a validly published name. (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. pauciflorum, T. filipes, T. oliganthum var. sonomense, T. triflorum | |
Name authority | Allioni: Auct. Fl. Pedem., 20. (1789) | Steudel: Nomencl. Bot. ed. 2, 2: 707. (1841) |
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