Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium nigrescens |
|
---|---|---|
big-head clover, large-head clover |
small white clover |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, 5–25 cm, villous. | Herbs annual, 10–60 cm, glabrous or glabrescent. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
usually erect or ascending, rarely prostrate, 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 triangular-lanceolate, 0.4–0.8 cm, margins entire, apex dark purple or reddish, sharply recurved, subulate; petiole 0.5–10 cm; petiolules 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate or obtriangular, 0.5–2.5 × 0.3–2.5 cm, base cuneate, veins fine, margins denticulate, apex rounded to emarginate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–32-flowered, globose or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5–8 × 3–7 cm; involucres absent. |
axillary or terminal, 15–50-flowered, globose, 1–1.8 × 1–1.8 cm; involucres a narrow rim, to 0.2 mm. |
Peduncles | 2–8 cm. |
1.5–4 cm. |
Pedicels | erect, 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, membranous, to 0.5 mm, truncate. |
reflexed in fruit, 3–6 mm; bracteoles narrowly oblanceolate, 3–6.5 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. |
6.5–9 mm; calyx oblong, 3–5 mm, glabrous or pubescent, veins 5–10, tube 1–2.5 mm, lobes ± equal or unequal, triangular-lanceolate, recurved in fruit, margins green or purple, apex acute to acuminate, orifice open; corolla pink or white, 6–9 mm, banner obovate-oblong, 6–9 × 1–2 mm, apex acute to emarginate. |
Legumes | ovoid, 4–5 mm. |
linear-oblong, 3–4.5 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow or reddish, mitten-shaped to ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm, smooth. |
1–5, yellow or pale or dark brown, oblong, 1 mm, smooth. |
2n | = 32, 48. |
= 16. |
Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium nigrescens |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Mar–Oct. |
Habitat | Rocky places, hard, compacted clay-gumbo, lava beds, sage-covered slopes, full sun. | Roadsides, lawns, fields, waste places. |
Elevation | 80–2500 m. (300–8200 ft.) | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
|
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; TN; TX; s Europe; w Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America] |
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 nigrescens was shown, using molecular markers, to consist of three subspecies and to hybridize readily with T. repens (W. M. Williams et al. 2001). It was first introduced as a potential crop species in the early 1950s and is cultivated widely in the southeastern United States as a forage crop and as a nitrogen source in roadside grass plantings (C. S. Hoveland 1960). (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 | Lupinaster macrocephalum | |
Name authority | (Pursh) Poiret in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl., suppl. 5: 336. (1817) | Viviani: Fl. Ital. Fragm., 12, plate 13. (1808) |
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