Trifolium repens
Trifolium productum
Dutch clover, trèfle blanc, white clover
elongated clover, productive clover, Shasta clover
creeping, branched, rooting at nodes.
± erect, loosely cespitose, branched.
palmate;
stipules lanceolate, 0.9–1.3 cm, margins entire, apex short-subulate;
petiole 5–20 cm;
petiolules to 1 mm;
leaflets 3, blades obovate, obcordate, or orbiculate, 0.6–4 × 0.4–2.5 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately prominent, margins serrulate distally, apex rounded, emarginate, or retuse, surfaces glabrous.
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.
axillary, 20–40+-flowered, globose, 1.5–3.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm;
involucres absent.
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.
erect, from prostrate stems, 1.5–30 cm.
2–13 cm, slightly twisted apically.
strongly reflexed in fruit, elongate, 3–5 mm;
bracteoles white, lanceolate, 1–2 mm.
strongly reflexed in fruit, 0.5 mm;
bracteoles minute, lanceolate.
8–13 mm;
calyx campanulate, 3–5 mm, glabrous, veins 6–10, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes unequal to subequal, adaxial shorter than tube, triangular-lanceolate, orifice open;
corolla white, often pinkish in age, 4–12 mm, banner ovate-lanceolate or oblong, 4–12 × 1–4 mm, apex rounded.
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.
linear-oblong, 4–5 mm.
obliquely ellipsoid, 5 mm.
3 or 4, yellow, reddish brown, or light brown, ovoid-reniform, 1 mm, smooth, glossy.
1 or 2, brown, often purple-mottled, flattened ovoid, 2–3 mm, smooth.
= 16, 28, 32, 48, 64.
= 16.
Trifolium repens
Trifolium productum
Trifolium repens may very well be the most important temperate pasture plant (M. J. Baker and W. M. Williams 1987) and has been considered the most important perennial pasture plant in North America (C. V. Piper 1924). It was introduced at least as early as the mid 1800s (R. N. Mack 2003) and spread so rapidly that it became known to Native Americans as White Man’s Foot Grass (W. Strickland 1801). It is morphologically diverse; most material from the flora area represents var. repens, but some specimens fit within the circumscriptions given by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984) of var. giganteum Lagrèze-Fossat, with inflorescences to 3.5 cm diameter and leaflets nearly 4 cm; others have smaller, pale-pink petals with hairy petioles and pedicels, and approach var. biasolettii (Steudel & Hochstetter) Ascherson & Graebner (T. occidentale Coombe).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
LA Plants, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, 
SW CO Wildflowers, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
