Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium fucatum |
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big-head clover, large-head clover |
bull clover, sour clover |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, 5–25 cm, villous. | Herbs annual, 10–80 cm, glabrous or glabrescent. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
erect or ascending, unbranched or densely dichotomously 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 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. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–32-flowered, globose or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5–8 × 3–7 cm; involucres absent. |
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. |
Peduncles | 2–8 cm. |
3–13 cm. |
Pedicels | erect, 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, membranous, to 0.5 mm, truncate. |
straight, 1 mm; bracteoles distinct or connate, broadly ovate, 1 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. |
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. |
Legumes | ovoid, 4–5 mm. |
stipitate, linear, 7–8 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow or reddish, mitten-shaped to ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm, smooth. |
3–8, gray, mottled, globose, 1.6–2 mm, reticulate. |
2n | = 32, 48. |
= 16. |
Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium fucatum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Rocky places, hard, compacted clay-gumbo, lava beds, sage-covered slopes, full sun. | Moist places, meadows, roadsides. |
Elevation | 80–2500 m. [260–8200 ft.] | 0–1000 m. [0–3300 ft.] |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
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CA; OR; WA [Introduced in Asia (China, Japan)]
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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 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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lupinaster macrocephalum | T. flavulum, T. fucatum var. flavulum, T. fucatum var. gambelii, T. fucatum var. virescens, T. gambelii, T. physopetalum, T. virescens |
Name authority | (Pursh) Poiret in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl., suppl. 5: 336. (1817) | Lindley: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 22: plate 1883. (1836) |
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