Trifolium owyheense |
Trifolium buckwestiorum |
|
---|---|---|
Owyhee clover |
Santa Cruz clover |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, 10–20 cm, glaucous, glabrous. | Herbs annual, 5–40 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | cespitose, spreading, branched proximally, sparsely branched distally. |
decumbent to ascending or erect, slightly branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules broadly obovate, 1–2 cm, fused at base, margins slightly lobed, apex acute; petiole 2–6 cm; petiolules 1–1.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades ovate, obovate, or orbiculate, slightly overlapping, 1–2 × 0.7–2.3 cm, base truncate to rounded, veins prominent, margins sparsely dentate, apex rounded, emarginate, surfaces glabrous. |
palmate; stipules whitish with prominent green veins, ovate, 0.3–0.5 cm, margins lacerate, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 1–2.4 cm; petiolules to 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to elliptic, 0.6–1.5 × 0.3–0.8 cm, base cuneate, veins ± thickened distally, margins denticulate, sometimes entire proximally, apex rounded, acute, or retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 20–30-flowered, globose, usually formed of 2 sessile heads, 2.5–5 × 2.5–5 cm; involucres absent. |
terminal or axillary, 15–20-flowered (early inflorescences hidden in stipules, subsessile, 2–5-flowered, flowers cleistogamous), subglobose, 0.5–0.8 × 0.6–0.8 cm; involucres flattened or shallowly bowl-shaped, 6–8 mm, when folded, nearly hiding calyces, glabrous or sparsely hairy, lobes 4 or 5, ± parallel-sided, 3 or 4-toothed. |
Peduncles | 3–7 cm, surpassing subtending leaves. |
1–3.5 cm. |
Pedicels | erect, reflexed in proximalmost flowers, 1 mm; bracteoles cuplike, 0.5 mm. |
straight, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles absent. |
Flowers | 15–21 mm; calyx tubular-campanulate, 9–12 mm, pilose, veins 10, tube 4.5–6 mm, lobes subequal, abaxialmost longest, subulate, orifice open; corolla deep pink or magenta, 20–23 mm, banner tubular for most their length, 18–22 × 5–7 mm, apex flared. |
7–8 mm; calyx tubular, 4–5 mm, glabrous, veins 10, tube 2–2.5 mm, lobes subequal, triangular, margins conspicuously 2 or 3-toothed, apex aristate, orifice open; corolla pale pink or white, 6–7 mm, banner oblong, 5–7 × 1 mm, apex emarginate or erose. |
Legumes | ellipsoid, 4–5 mm. |
ovoid, 2.5 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow-mottled, mitten-shaped, 2–3 mm, smooth. |
1, dark brown, slightly mottled, ovoid, 2 mm, smooth. |
Trifolium owyheense |
Trifolium buckwestiorum |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Dry shale hillsides on diatomaceous earth. | Meadows, roadsides, grassy hillsides. |
Elevation | 1000–2000 m. (3300–6600 ft.) | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) |
Distribution |
ID; OR
|
CA |
Discussion | Trifolium owyheense is known from about 40 populations in a small portion of east-central Malheur County in Oregon, and immediately adjacent Owyhee County in Idaho (M. Mancuso 2001). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium buckwestiorum, which ranges from Mendocino to Monterey counties, is unique among clovers in North America because of its aboveground cleistogamous, axillary flowers. The only other clover in North America that produces cleistogamous flowers is T. amphianthum, which produces its cleistogamous flowers at ground level and then pushes them into the substrate. (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 | ||
Name authority | Gilkey: Madroño 13: 169, fig. 1. (1956) | Isely: Madroño 39: 90, fig. 2. (1992) |
Web links |