Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium hydrophilum |
|
---|---|---|
big-head clover, large-head clover |
saline clover, water sack clover |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, 5–25 cm, villous. | Herbs annual, 15–55 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
erect, 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-oblong to lanceolate, 0.4–1.3 cm, sheathing proximally, margins entire or serrate, apex acuminate; petiole 3–9 cm; petiolules 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to oblanceolate, 1.2–3 × 0.3–1.4 cm, base cuneate, veins fine, margins serrate, apex rounded or truncate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–32-flowered, globose or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5–8 × 3–7 cm; involucres absent. |
axillary or terminal, 5–15-flowered, ellipsoid, 1–1.8 × 1.3–1.5 cm; involucres flattened, 3–4 mm, shallowly incised, lobes 5–8, elliptic, apex rounded to truncate and irregularly erose, not split. |
Peduncles | 2–8 cm. |
3.5–6 cm. |
Pedicels | erect, 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, membranous, to 0.5 mm, truncate. |
erect, 1 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, to 0.5 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. |
7–11 mm; calyx campanulate-tubular, 2.5–5 mm, glabrous, veins 5, tube 1–2.5 mm, lobes unequal, lanceolate-subulate, orifice open; corolla reddish purple, 7–9 mm, inflated in fruit, banner oblong, 7–9 × 3–4 mm, apex rounded, retuse. |
Legumes | ovoid, 4–5 mm. |
stipitate, ovate-oblong, 4 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow or reddish, mitten-shaped to ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm, smooth. |
1 or 2, red-brown, ovoid-ellipsoid, 2 mm, smooth or papillate. |
2n | = 32, 48. |
|
Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium hydrophilum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Apr–May. |
Habitat | Rocky places, hard, compacted clay-gumbo, lava beds, sage-covered slopes, full sun. | Wet, alkaline soils, salt marshes. |
Elevation | 80–2500 m. [260–8200 ft.] | 0–300 m. [0–1000 ft.] |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
|
CA |
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 hydrophilum is closely allied to T. depauperatum and is restricted to the Sacramento Valley, northwestern San Joaquin Valley, and central-western California; it grows in moist areas, sometimes in standing water (M. A. Vincent and D. Isely 2012). (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. amplectens var. hydrophilum, T. depauperatum var. hydrophilum |
Name authority | (Pursh) Poiret in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl., suppl. 5: 336. (1817) | Greene: Man. Bot. San Francisco, 100. (1894) |
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