Trifolium tomentosum |
Trifolium reflexum |
|
---|---|---|
woolly clover |
buffalo clover |
|
Habit | Herbs annual, 10–20 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. | Herbs annual or biennial, 10–60 cm, villous or glabrate. |
Stems | prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched. |
erect or ascending, unbranched or 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. |
palmate; stipules broadly ovate, 1–2.5 cm, margins entire or denticulate, apex acute or acuminate; petiole 1–10 cm (distalmost 0.3–3.5 cm); petiolules 0.5–1.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades ovate, obovate, oblong, or rhombic, 1–4.5 × 0.7–2 cm, base cuneate, veins fine, margins dentate to denticulate, apex broadly acute, rounded, or emarginate, surfaces pubescent or glabrous. |
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. |
terminal or axillary, 10–50-flowered, globose to subglobose, 1.5–4 × 2–4 cm; bracteoles forming shallow, membranous cups, to 0.5 mm. |
Peduncles | 0.5–1.5 cm. |
2–8 cm. |
Pedicels | slightly reflexed, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles cup-shaped, membranous, 0.2 mm. |
reflexed in fruit, 5–12 mm; bracteoles broad-obovate, membranous, 0.5–1 mm, truncate to 2-fid. |
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. |
10–15 mm; calyx campanulate, 6–9 mm, pilose or glabrous, veins 10, tube 1–1.5 mm, lobes equal, narrowly triangular to subulate, 3–7 mm, margins green, sinuses broad, orifice open; corolla usually pink, magenta, or creamy white, sometimes bicolored, 9–14 mm, banner obovate-oblong, 9–14 × 5–8 mm, apex rounded or retuse, often erose-denticulate. |
Legumes | ovoid to globose, 2–3 mm. |
oblong, 4–5 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow to brown, mottled, mitten-shaped, 0.9–1.1 mm, smooth, glossy. |
1–6, yellow to brown, purple-mottled, globose, 1.2–1.5 mm, slightly rugose. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16. |
Trifolium tomentosum |
Trifolium reflexum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Sandy lawns, fields, meadows, roadsides, clay soils among vernal pools. | Clearings in forests, open woods, meadows, especially after fires. |
Elevation | 0–400 m. (0–1300 ft.) | 200–500 m. (700–1600 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]
|
AL; AR; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; ON
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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.) |
Nearly glabrous plants of Trifolium reflexum have been called var. glabrum Lojacono; var. reflexum is described as densely pubescent. The distinctions between these two varieties is inconsistent and may be based in part on age (M. A. Vincent 1991). (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 | Amoria reflexa, T. adscendens, T. comosum, T. platycephalum | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 771. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 766. (1753) |
Web links |