Trifolium polyodon
Pacific grove clover, woods or Pacific grove clover
decumbent or ascending, branched.
palmate;
stipules lanceolate to ovate, 0.4–1.8 cm, margins lacerate, apex acute to acuminate;
petiole 0.5–6 cm;
petiolules to 1 mm;
leaflets 3, blades broadly elliptic to broadly obovate, 0.4–2.5 × 0.4–1.5 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately thickened, margins dentate-serrulate, apex rounded or truncate, often retuse, surfaces glabrous.
axillary, 10–25-flowered, subglobose or globose, 1–1.8 × 1–1.8 cm;
involucres flattened or bowl-shaped, 4–7 mm, incised 1/2 their length, when folded, not hiding flowers except proximally, lobes 5–12, dentate-lacerate, spinulose.
1–2 cm.
straight, to 1 mm;
bracteoles absent.
8–10 mm;
calyx campanulate-tubular, not slit between adaxial lobes, 5–7 mm, glabrous, veins 20, tube 1.9–2.4 mm, lobes unequal, 3-fid or laciniate, often appearing 7+-lobed, orifice open;
corolla pink or pale purple, 8–9 mm, banner elliptic, 8–9 × 2–3 mm, apex retuse.
ellipsoid, 3.5–4 mm.
2, dark brown, mottled, ovoid or reniform, 1.7–1.9 mm, smooth.
Trifolium polyodon
The taxonomic status of Trifolium polyodon, known only from Monterey County, has long been debated. W. L. Jepson (1936) considered it a variety of T. tridentatum Lindley (= T. willdenovii). The first to consider it as a variety of T. variegatum was J. S. Martin (1943), who never formally published a new combination; an invalid combination was made by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984). D. Isely (1998) included it in his interpretation of T. variegatum as phase 5 of that species; he speculated that T. polyodon might have originated as a hybrid of T. variegatum and T. willdenovii. Molecular studies (N. W. Ellison et al. 2006) showed that T. polyodon is closely related to T. variegatum but is distinct; it also appears to be related to T. cyathiferum.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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