Trifolium tomentosum
Trifolium stoloniferum
woolly clover
running buffalo clover
prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched.
creeping, branched, rooting at nodes.
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, opposite or subopposite on erect stems;
stipules lanceolate (on prostrate stems) or ovate (on erect stems), 1–2 cm, margins entire or shallowly serrate, apex acuminate;
petioles 6–15 cm on prostrate stems, 0.5–4 cm on erect stems;
petiolules 1 mm;
leaflets 3, blades broadly ovate or obcordate, 1–2 × 0.5–2.5 cm, base broadly cuneate to rounded, veins fine, margins serrate, apex emarginate or rounded, surfaces glabrous.
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, single or paired at tip of upright stem, 15–30-flowered, globose, 2–3.5 × 2–3.5 cm;
involucres absent.
0.5–1.5 cm.
2–7 cm.
slightly reflexed, to 0.5 mm;
bracteoles cup-shaped, membranous, 0.2 mm.
elongated and strongly reflexed in fruit, 2–5 mm;
bracteoles lanceolate, 2 mm.
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.
9–15 mm;
calyx campanulate, 4–7 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, veins 10, tube 1.3–3.3 mm, lobes subequal, subulate, orifice open;
corolla white, veins often pinkish, 8–14 mm, banner ovate or oblong, 8–14 × 4–5 mm, apex rounded or emarginate.
ovoid to globose, 2–3 mm.
oblong, 2.5–3 mm.
1 or 2, yellow to brown, mottled, mitten-shaped, 0.9–1.1 mm, smooth, glossy.
1 or 2, tan to brown, reniform, 1.3–2 mm, smooth.
= 16.
= 16.
Trifolium tomentosum
Trifolium stoloniferum
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.)
Trifolium stoloniferum was thought to be extinct but was rediscovered in the early 1980s (R. L. Bartgis 1985). It is now known from extant populations scattered throughout much of its original range, in five of the original eight states in which it was found historically (D. J. Crawford et al. 1998); it was discovered in Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 2017, but appears to be extirpated in Arkansas, Illinois, and Kansas. R. J. Hickey et al. (1991) examined genetic diversity of T. stoloniferum populations using allozymes and found low diversity, with some populations appearing genetically uniform. Molecular studies using RAPDs (Crawford et al.) indicated somewhat higher genetic diversity, even in relatively small populations.
Trifolium stoloniferum is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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