Trifolium tomentosum |
Trifolium virginicum |
|
---|---|---|
woolly clover |
kates mountain clover |
|
Habit | Herbs annual, 10–20 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. | Herbs perennial, 3–10 cm, pilose. |
Stems | prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched. |
cespitose, prostrate, branched from crown. |
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 oblanceolate to ovate, 1–1.5 cm, margins entire, apex acute-acuminate; petiole 5–10 cm; petiolules to 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades linear-elliptic, elliptic, narrowly oblong, or lanceolate, 1–7 × 0.4–1 cm, base cuneate, veins fine or thickened, margins entire or serrulate, apex truncate to acute, surfaces pubescent 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. |
terminal or axillary, 20–40-flowered, becoming supine in fruit, globose, 1.5–3.5 × 1.5–3 cm; involucres absent. |
Peduncles | 0.5–1.5 cm. |
2–6 cm. |
Pedicels | slightly reflexed, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles cup-shaped, membranous, 0.2 mm. |
reflexed in fruit, 3–8 mm; bracteoles ovate or lanceolate-linear, to 1 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. |
10–12 mm; calyx campanulate, 4–7 mm, pilose, veins 10, tube 1.5–3 mm, lobes equal, subulate, orifice open; corolla white, sometimes becoming pink to red, 10–12 mm, banner obovate-oblong, 10–12 × 4–5 mm, apex rounded, retuse or mucronate. |
Legumes | ovoid to globose, 2–3 mm. |
stipitate, obovoid, 4–7.5 mm. |
Seeds | 1 or 2, yellow to brown, mottled, mitten-shaped, 0.9–1.1 mm, smooth, glossy. |
1, yellow-brown, mitten-shaped, 1.8–2.1 mm, rugose. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16. |
Trifolium tomentosum |
Trifolium virginicum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Sandy lawns, fields, meadows, roadsides, clay soils among vernal pools. | Shale barren slopes. |
Elevation | 0–400 m. (0–1300 ft.) | 400–1200 m. (1300–3900 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]
|
MD; PA; VA; WV |
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.) |
Trifolium virginicum is an endemic species of shale barrens in the Appalachian Mountains, from Bedford, Franklin, and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania, southward through eastern West Virginia and western Maryland, to northwestern Virginia. Genetic similarity is high among populations of Trifolium virginicum, and gene flow appears to be low (T. M. Linscott 1994). (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 | ||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 771. (1753) | Small: Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 4: 112, plate 75. (1894) |
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