Trifolium microcephalum |
Trifolium fragiferum |
|
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small-head clover |
strawberry clover |
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Habit | Herbs annual, 3–55 cm, densely to sparsely pubescent. | Herbs perennial, 5–50 cm, pubescent or glabrous. |
Stems | erect to ascending, branched. |
prostrate or creeping, branched, rooting at nodes. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules obliquely ovate, 0.4–1.2 cm, margins entire or slightly serrate, apex acuminate; petiole 1–5 cm; petiolules 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades oblanceolate, obovate, or obcordate, 0.4–1.7 × 0.3–1.1 cm, base cuneate, veins fine or slightly thickened, margins setose, often dentate distally, apex usually retuse, rarely rounded, surfaces villous. |
palmate; stipules linear or lanceolate, dilated proximally, 1.3–2 cm, margins entire, apex subulate or acuminate; petiole 1–9 cm; petiolules 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades ovate, obovate, or elliptic, 0.5–3 × 0.3–1.5 cm, base cuneate, veins prominent, thickened, curved, margins spinulose-denticulate, apex obtuse, often retuse, surfaces hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
Inflorescences | axillary or terminal, 10–40-flowered, globose, 0.5–1.3 × 0.4–1.2 cm; involucres flattened or bowl-shaped, 0.4–1 cm, when folded, nearly completely hiding calyces, villous, incised 1/2 their length, lobes 5–12, lanceolate-ovate, entire or slightly toothed proximally, acuminate. |
axillary, erect or ascending, 10–30-flowered, globose, 0.8–2 × 0.8–2 cm; involucres cup-shaped, composed of bracteoles, bracteoles lanceolate-oblong, 3–6 mm, distinct or connate proximally. |
Peduncles | 1–8 cm. |
3–17 cm. |
Pedicels | absent; bracteoles absent. |
straight, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles linear or lanceolate, 2–3 mm, acuminate or 2-fid. |
Flowers | 4–6 mm; calyx campanulate-tubular, 3–5.5 mm, pubescent, veins 10, tube 1.8–2.5 mm, lobes ± equal, triangular-aristate, margins hyaline, wavy, orifice open; corolla white or pink to lavender, 4–6 mm, banner oblong, 3–6 × 1–2 mm, apex emarginate. |
6–8 mm; calyx tubular, inflated in fruit, markedly asymmetric-bilabiate, 2.5–7 mm, usually pilose to woolly, sometimes glabrescent, veins 5–10, connected by reticulating lateral veins, tube 2–7 mm, lobes unequal, abaxial equal to or longer than tube, straight, adaxial spreading in fruit, shorter than tube, very unequal in fruit, orifice open; corolla white to pink, 5–8 mm, banner oblong-lancelate, 5–8 × 2 mm, apex emarginate to crenulate. |
Legumes | broadly ellipsoid, 1.5–2 mm. |
ovoid, 2.5–3 mm, long-beaked. |
Seeds | 1, yellow, reddish mottled, oblong, 1.5 mm, smooth. |
1 or 2, tan or brown-spotted, globose-reniform, 1–1.4 mm, smooth, dull. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16. |
Trifolium microcephalum |
Trifolium fragiferum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jul. | Flowering Apr–Nov. |
Habitat | Meadows, roadsides, stream banks, forest clearings, grassy slopes. | Meadows, fields, roadsides, sandy and saline soils. |
Elevation | 0–2500 m. (0–8200 ft.) | 0–2000 m. (0–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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AZ; CA; CO; GA; IA; ID; IL; KS; MA; MN; MT; ND; NE; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; SD; UT; WA; WI; WY; BC; ON; c Europe; s Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in s South America, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
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Discussion | Trifolium microcephalum is common in much of its range in California and northward into Oregon, and is rare in much of the rest of its range. It is closely allied with the Chilean T. vernum Philippi (N. W. Ellison et al. 2006), which it resembles greatly, and from which it is distinguished by its shorter calyx lobes (M. Zohary and D. Heller 1984). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium fragiferum is cultivated for pastures and in mixtures with grass for hay and silage and, to a lesser extent, as groundcover in orchards and vineyards and as a green manure cover crop (L. St. John et al. 2010). It appears to have been introduced accidentally in the 1870s and as a crop around 1900 (E. A. Hollowell 1939). (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 | Lojaconoa microcephala, T. microcephalum var. bipedale, T. microcephalum var. lemmonii | Amoria bonannii, T. bonannii, T. fragiferum subsp. bonannii |
Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 478. (1813) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 772. (1753) |
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