Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium eriocephalum |
|||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
big-head clover, large-head clover |
woolly-head clover |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Habit | Herbs perennial, 5–25 cm, villous. | Herbs perennial, 12–46 cm, sparsely hairy to densely villous, appressed-pubescent, or glabrate. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
erect or decumbent, branched. |
||||||||||||||||||||
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 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. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–32-flowered, globose or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5–8 × 3–7 cm; involucres absent. |
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. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Peduncles | 2–8 cm. |
bent distally, proximal to flowers, 3–18 cm. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Pedicels | erect, 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, membranous, to 0.5 mm, truncate. |
reflexed, to 0.3 mm; bracteoles absent. |
||||||||||||||||||||
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. |
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. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Legumes | ovoid, 4–5 mm. |
ovoid, 2–3.5 mm. |
||||||||||||||||||||
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow or reddish, mitten-shaped to ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm, smooth. |
(1 or)2–4, yellow-brown to brown, mitten-shaped or subglobose, 1.2–2 mm, smooth. |
||||||||||||||||||||
2n | = 32, 48. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium eriocephalum |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Rocky places, hard, compacted clay-gumbo, lava beds, sage-covered slopes, full sun. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 80–2500 m. (300–8200 ft.) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
|
w United States
|
||||||||||||||||||||
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.) |
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.) |
||||||||||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Lupinaster macrocephalum | |||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Pursh) Poiret in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl., suppl. 5: 336. (1817) | Nuttall in J. Torrey and A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 313. (1838) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Web links |