Trifolium productum |
Trifolium buckwestiorum |
|
---|---|---|
elongated clover, productive clover, Shasta clover |
Santa Cruz clover |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, 15–45 cm, glabrous. | Herbs annual, 5–40 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | ± erect, loosely cespitose, branched. |
decumbent to ascending or erect, slightly branched. |
Leaves | basal and cauline, palmate; stipules ovate-lanceolate, 0.5–2 cm, margins usually entire, sometimes lobed, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 0.5–12 cm; petiolules 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades lanceolate or elliptic, 0.5–2 × 0.3–1.3 cm, base cuneate, veins prominent, margins serrate, apex acute, apiculate, 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 or axillary, 15–30-flowered, ellipsoid or conic, 1.5–2 × 1–3 cm, rachis prolonged beyond flowers, undivided or forked, often bearing sterile flower buds distally; 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 | 2–13 cm, slightly twisted apically. |
1–3.5 cm. |
Pedicels | strongly reflexed in fruit, 0.5 mm; bracteoles minute, lanceolate. |
straight, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles absent. |
Flowers | 12–14 mm; calyx pink to purple, campanulate, 3–3.5 mm, glabrous, veins 10 (5 sometimes faint), tube 1.5–1.7 mm, lobes subequal, triangular-subulate, orifice open; corolla pink to deep purple, 12–14 mm, banner oblong, 12–14 × 4–5 mm, apex rounded or retuse. |
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 | obliquely ellipsoid, 5 mm. |
ovoid, 2.5 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, brown, often purple-mottled, flattened ovoid, 2–3 mm, smooth. |
1, dark brown, slightly mottled, ovoid, 2 mm, smooth. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Trifolium productum |
Trifolium buckwestiorum |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Sep. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Open coniferous woods, rocky places, stream banks, grassy meadows, near springs. | Meadows, roadsides, grassy hillsides. |
Elevation | 1100–2800 m. (3600–9200 ft.) | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
|
CA |
Discussion | Trifolium productum is morphologically most similar to T. kingii, from which it differs by its glabrous calyces and inflorescence rachises surpassing the flowers to 1.5 cm and apically forked (M. Zohary and D. Heller 1984). Trifolium productum is geographically isolated from T. kingii; the former is restricted to northern California, western Oregon, and western Nevada, while the latter is restricted to Utah and easternmost Nevada (J. M. Gillett 1972). (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 | ||
Synonyms | T. kingii subsp. productum, T. kingii var. productum | |
Name authority | Greene: Erythea 2: 181. (1894) | Isely: Madroño 39: 90, fig. 2. (1992) |
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