Trifolium striatum |
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knotted clover |
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Habit | Herbs usually annual, rarely biennial, 10–50 cm, villous. |
Stems | erect, ascending, or decumbent, branched from base. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules lanceolate-ovate, 0.9–1.1 cm, margins entire, apex acute-acuminate, setaceous, ciliate; petiole 0.5–5 cm; petiolules 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to oblong, 0.9–1.6 × 0.4–1 cm, base cuneate, veins fine, margins denticulate, apex obtuse, obcordate, or emarginate, surfaces hairy. |
Inflorescences | axillary or terminal, solitary or paired, 20–60-flowered, ovoid or oblong, 0.8–1.6 × 0.6–1 cm; involucres absent. |
Peduncles | 0–1 cm. |
Pedicels | absent; bracteoles absent. |
Flowers | 5–7 mm; calyx ellipsoid to urceolate, 3–4 mm, hairy, veins 10, tube 2–3 mm, lobes erect or spreading, unequal, abaxial longest and equal to tube, subulate, orifice open; corolla pink, 25–35 mm, banner oblong, 2.5–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, apex retuse. |
Legumes | ovoid, leathery distally, transversely dehiscent, 2–2.5 mm. |
Seeds | 1, tan or reddish brown, globose to ovoid, 1–1.5 mm, smooth, glossy. |
2n | = 14. |
Trifolium striatum |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Waste places |
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; GA; MA; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OK; OR; PA; SC; VA; VT; WA; BC; Europe; w Asia; nw Africa [Introduced also in s South America (Chile), Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
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Discussion | Trifolium striatum has been recorded as an occasional weed in the flora area, having been first collected on ballast in New Jersey in 1880. It is found sporadically as a weed of disturbed habitats and appears to be spreading rapidly. It has been called Pitts’s clover in the southern United States because it was discovered by J. D. Pitts in a field of crimson clover as a weed and he experimented with it as a forage plant (G. L. Fuller and B. H. Hendrickson 1928). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 770. (1753) |
Web links |
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