Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium striatum |
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big-head clover, large-head clover |
knotted clover |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, 5–25 cm, villous. | Herbs usually annual, rarely biennial, 10–50 cm, villous. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
erect, ascending, or decumbent, branched from base. |
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-ovate, 0.9–1.1 cm, margins entire, apex acute-acuminate, setaceous, ciliate; petiole 0.5–5 cm; petiolules 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to oblong, 0.9–1.6 × 0.4–1 cm, base cuneate, veins fine, margins denticulate, apex obtuse, obcordate, or emarginate, surfaces hairy. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–32-flowered, globose or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5–8 × 3–7 cm; involucres absent. |
axillary or terminal, solitary or paired, 20–60-flowered, ovoid or oblong, 0.8–1.6 × 0.6–1 cm; involucres absent. |
Peduncles | 2–8 cm. |
0–1 cm. |
Pedicels | erect, 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles broadly ovate, membranous, to 0.5 mm, truncate. |
absent; 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. |
5–7 mm; calyx ellipsoid to urceolate, 3–4 mm, hairy, veins 10, tube 2–3 mm, lobes erect or spreading, unequal, abaxial longest and equal to tube, subulate, orifice open; corolla pink, 25–35 mm, banner oblong, 2.5–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, apex retuse. |
Legumes | ovoid, 4–5 mm. |
ovoid, leathery distally, transversely dehiscent, 2–2.5 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow or reddish, mitten-shaped to ellipsoid, 2.5–3 mm, smooth. |
1, tan or reddish brown, globose to ovoid, 1–1.5 mm, smooth, glossy. |
2n | = 32, 48. |
= 14. |
Trifolium macrocephalum |
Trifolium striatum |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Rocky places, hard, compacted clay-gumbo, lava beds, sage-covered slopes, full sun. | Waste places |
Elevation | 80–2500 m. [260–8200 ft.] | 0–500 m. [0–1600 ft.] |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
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AL; AR; CA; GA; MA; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OK; OR; PA; SC; VA; VT; WA; BC; Europe; w Asia; nw Africa [Introduced also in s South America (Chile), Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
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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 striatum has been recorded as an occasional weed in the flora area, having been first collected on ballast in New Jersey in 1880. It is found sporadically as a weed of disturbed habitats and appears to be spreading rapidly. It has been called Pitts’s clover in the southern United States because it was discovered by J. D. Pitts in a field of crimson clover as a weed and he experimented with it as a forage plant (G. L. Fuller and B. H. Hendrickson 1928). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lupinaster macrocephalum | |
Name authority | (Pursh) Poiret in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl., suppl. 5: 336. (1817) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 770. (1753) |
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