Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium repens |
|
---|---|---|
big-head clover, large-head clover |
Dutch clover, trèfle blanc, white clover |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, 5–25 cm, villous. | Herbs perennial, 10–40 cm, glabrous or glabrescent. |
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 lanceolate, 0.9–1.3 cm, margins entire, apex short-subulate; petiole 5–20 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate, obcordate, or orbiculate, 0.6–4 × 0.4–2.5 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately prominent, margins serrulate distally, apex rounded, emarginate, or retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–32-flowered, globose or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5–8 × 3–7 cm; involucres absent. |
axillary, 20–40+-flowered, globose, 1.5–3.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm; involucres absent. |
Peduncles | 2–8 cm. |
erect, from prostrate stems, 1.5–30 cm. |
Pedicels | erect, 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, membranous, to 0.5 mm, truncate. |
strongly reflexed in fruit, elongate, 3–5 mm; bracteoles white, lanceolate, 1–2 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. |
8–13 mm; calyx campanulate, 3–5 mm, glabrous, veins 6–10, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes unequal to subequal, adaxial shorter than tube, triangular-lanceolate, orifice open; corolla white, often pinkish in age, 4–12 mm, banner ovate-lanceolate or oblong, 4–12 × 1–4 mm, apex rounded. |
Legumes | ovoid, 4–5 mm. |
linear-oblong, 4–5 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow or reddish, mitten-shaped to ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm, smooth. |
3 or 4, yellow, reddish brown, or light brown, ovoid-reniform, 1 mm, smooth, glossy. |
2n | = 32, 48. |
= 16, 28, 32, 48, 64. |
Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium repens |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Feb–Oct. |
Habitat | Rocky places, hard, compacted clay-gumbo, lava beds, sage-covered slopes, full sun. | Fields, lawns, roadsides, forest edges, waste places. |
Elevation | 80–2500 m. (300–8200 ft.) | 0–4000 m. (0–13100 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
|
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; Eurasia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America, Africa, Pacific Islands]
|
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 repens may very well be the most important temperate pasture plant (M. J. Baker and W. M. Williams 1987) and has been considered the most important perennial pasture plant in North America (C. V. Piper 1924). It was introduced at least as early as the mid 1800s (R. N. Mack 2003) and spread so rapidly that it became known to Native Americans as White Man’s Foot Grass (W. Strickland 1801). It is morphologically diverse; most material from the flora area represents var. repens, but some specimens fit within the circumscriptions given by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984) of var. giganteum Lagrèze-Fossat, with inflorescences to 3.5 cm diameter and leaflets nearly 4 cm; others have smaller, pale-pink petals with hairy petioles and pedicels, and approach var. biasolettii (Steudel & Hochstetter) Ascherson & Graebner (T. occidentale Coombe). (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 | T. saxicola |
Name authority | (Pursh) Poiret in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl., suppl. 5: 336. (1817) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 767. (1753) |
Web links |
|