Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium amphianthum |
|
---|---|---|
big-head clover, large-head clover |
peanut clover |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, 5–25 cm, villous. | Herbs perennial, 10–25 cm, glabrous or glabrate. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
creeping, branched, rooting at nodes. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules ovate, obovate, or oblong, 1–3 cm, margins entire, irregularly lobed, or serrate, apex acute or acuminate; petiole 1–14 cm; petiolules 0.9–1.2 mm; leaflets (5–)7–9, blades broadly to narrowly obovate, often folded, 1–2.7 × 0.4–1.1 cm, base cuneate, veins thickened, especially distally, margins serrulate, apex rounded or truncate, apiculate, surfaces villous abaxially, sparsely villous to glabrate adaxially. |
palmate; stipules ovate-lanceolate, 0.5–1 cm, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 3–10 cm; petiolules 0.5–1 mm; leaflets 3, blades obcordate, 0.5–1.8 × 0.5–1.5 cm, base cuneate, veins thickened, margins entire or denticulate distally, apex usually deeply emarginate, rarely rounded, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–32-flowered, globose or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5–8 × 3–7 cm; involucres absent. |
axillary, 5–20-flowered, globose, 1–2.2 × 1–20 cm, chasmogamous erect, cleistogamous becoming subterranean; involucres formed of distinct, narrowly lanceolate bracts, 2.5–3.5 mm. |
Peduncles | 2–8 cm. |
chasmogamous 6–8 cm, cleistogamous ± sessile. |
Pedicels | erect, 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, membranous, to 0.5 mm, truncate. |
reflexed in fruit, cleistogamous pushing fruit underground, chasmogamous 1–8 mm, cleistogamous 4–20 mm; bracteoles lanceolate, 2–4 mm. |
Flowers | 20–30 mm; calyx campanulate, 10–22 mm, villous, veins 10–15, tube 2.5–4 mm, lobes subequal, subulate, plumose, orifice open; corolla white, creamy white, or pinkish, keel petals deep pink, 20–28 mm, banner ovate or oblong, 20–28 × 10–13 mm, apex rounded or slightly emarginate. |
chasmogamous 8–11 mm, cleistogamous 4–5 mm; calyx campanulate, 3–5 mm, slightly pilose, veins 10, tube 1.5–2 mm, lobes subequal, adaxial pair connate proximally, sometimes nearly entire length, narrowly triangular-subulate, orifice open; corolla magenta or pink, 7.5–11 mm, banner broadly obovate-elliptic, 5–10 × 5–8 mm, apex rounded, emarginate. |
Legumes | ovoid, 4–5 mm. |
stipitate, chasmogamous ellipsoid, cleistogamous ovoid-globose, chasmogamous longitudinally dehiscent, 3–6 mm, cleistogamous indehiscent, 3–6 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow or reddish, mitten-shaped to ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm, smooth. |
2–6 (chasmogamous), 1–3 (cleistogamous), tan, mitten-shaped, 1.2–1.5 mm, smooth. |
2n | = 32, 48. |
= 16, 32. |
Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium amphianthum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Mar–Jun. |
Habitat | Rocky places, hard, compacted clay-gumbo, lava beds, sage-covered slopes, full sun. | Sandy soils, prairies. |
Elevation | 80–2500 m. [260–8200 ft.] | 0–200 m. [0–700 ft.] |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
|
LA; TX |
Discussion | Trifolium macrocephalum has the largest inflorescences of any clover. Trifolium megacephalum Nuttall (1818) is an illegitimate replacement name for Lupinaster macrocephalum Pursh. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium amphianthum ranges in east-central Texas from Aransas County northward to Denton County, and eastward to San Augustine and Shelby counties; it is also recorded from Natchitoches and Rapides parishes in Louisiana. Trifolium amphianthum was collected once in Arkansas, but the specimen may have been from cultivation. The name Trifolium polymorphum Poiret applies to plants found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay and has been misapplied to this North American endemic, as was done by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984). Trifolium amphianthum is distinguished from T. polymorphum by its much larger leaves and flowers and essentially glabrous leaves and peduncles. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lupinaster macrocephalum | T. roemerianum |
Name authority | (Pursh) Poiret in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl., suppl. 5: 336. (1817) | Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 316. (1838) |
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