Trifolium tomentosum |
Trifolium mucronatum |
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woolly clover |
cusp clover |
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Habit | Herbs annual, 10–20 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. | |
Stems | prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Peduncles | 0.5–1.5 cm. |
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Pedicels | slightly reflexed, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles cup-shaped, membranous, 0.2 mm. |
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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. |
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Legumes | ovoid to globose, 2–3 mm. |
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Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow to brown, mottled, mitten-shaped, 0.9–1.1 mm, smooth, glossy. |
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The | difficulty of distinguishing Trifolium mucronatum from T. wormskioldii is discussed under 33. T. wormskioldii. |
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Populations | in the United States represent T. mucronatum subsp. lacerum; in Mexico, subsp. lacerum is found in the north, subsp. mucronatum (petals pink or reddish, flowers 1.5–1.7 cm, inflorescences 2.5–3.5 cm diam.) is widespread, and subsp. vaughanae J. |
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m | .; m . |
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Gillett | (petals lavender or white, flowers 1.2–1.4 cm, inflorescences 1.5–2 cm diam.) is restricted to central Mexico (Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí) (J.; gillett 1980). |
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2n | = 16. |
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Trifolium tomentosum |
Trifolium mucronatum |
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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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w United States; sc United States; n Mexico
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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.) |
Subspecies 3 (1 in the flora). Trifolium involucratum Ortega (1797), which pertains here, is a later homonym of T. involucratum Lamarck (1778, = T. cherleri Linnaeus). (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 | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 771. (1753) | Willdenow ex Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 3: 208. (1826) |
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