Trifolium tomentosum |
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woolly clover |
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Habit | Herbs annual, 10–20 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. |
Stems | prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules ovate or triangular-lanceolate, 0.4–1.2 cm, margins entire, apex acute or acuminate; petiole 0.5–7 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate, obcordate, or elliptic, 0.4–1.5 × 0.3–1 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately prominent, margins denticulate, apex rounded or emarginate, surfaces sparsely hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
Inflorescences | axillary, 10–20-flowered, subglobose, soon becoming globose, flowers resupinate, calyces densely white-woolly, compacted, inflated, 0.5–1.5 × 0.5–1.5 cm; involucres a narrow rim, 0.2 mm. |
Peduncles | 0.5–1.5 cm. |
Pedicels | slightly reflexed, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles cup-shaped, membranous, 0.2 mm. |
Flowers | 3–7 mm; calyx tubular, inflated in fruit, markedly asymmetric-bilabiate, 2–6 mm, woolly adaxially, veins 5–10, connected by lateral veins, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, 4–5 mm in fruit, lobes unequal, subulate, shorter than tube, adaxial spreading or curved, orifice open, abruptly constricted in fruit; corolla pink, 3–6 mm, banner ovate, 3–6 × 3–6 mm, apex emarginate to crenulate. |
Legumes | ovoid to globose, 2–3 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow to brown, mottled, mitten-shaped, 0.9–1.1 mm, smooth, glossy. |
2n | = 16. |
Trifolium tomentosum |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr. |
Habitat | Sandy lawns, fields, meadows, roadsides, clay soils among vernal pools. |
Elevation | 0–400 m. (0–1300 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; FL; MA; NC; SC; s Europe (Mediterranean); sw Asia; n Africa; Atlantic Islands (Azores) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Chile), s Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
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Discussion | Trifolium tomentosum is occasionally cultivated as a forage crop (F. J. Hermann 1953) and is becoming weedy in the flora area and in Australia (R. P. Randall 2002). (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: 771. (1753) |
Web links |