Trifolium tomentosum
Trifolium wormskioldii
woolly clover
coast clover, cow clover, cows clover, salt marsh clover, springbank clover, wormskjold's clover
prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched.
erect, ascending, or decumbent, branched.
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 ovate to lanceolate, 1.5–2 cm, margins entire (proximal stipules) or lacerate (distal stipules), apex acute to acuminate;
petiole 1–11 cm;
petiolules 0.5 mm;
leaflets 3, blades obovate to elliptic, 0.4–4.2 × 0.2–1.3 cm, base cuneate or rounded, veins fine or thickened distally, margins spinulose-serrate, apex usually acute to rounded, sometimes retuse or mucronate, 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.
axillary or terminal, 20–50-flowered, subglobose or globose, 1.8–2.5 × 2–2.5 cm;
involucres broadly bowl-shaped, 12–20 mm, incised 1/3–1/2 their length, lobes 10+, sharply and acutely serrate, veins prominent.
0.5–1.5 cm.
1.5–11 cm.
slightly reflexed, to 0.5 mm;
bracteoles cup-shaped, membranous, 0.2 mm.
straight, 1.5–2 mm;
bracteoles linear or ovate, 1–2 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.
12–14 mm, odor somewhat unpleasant;
calyx whitish, tubular, 5–6 mm, glabrous, veins 10, tube 2–3 mm, lobes green to purple, subequal, abaxial rarely longer than tube, orifice open;
corolla usually magenta to purple, rarely white or bicolored, 10–12 mm, banner ovate-oblong, 12–14 × 2–3 mm, apex truncate or rounded, slightly retuse.
ovoid to globose, 2–3 mm.
oblong, 2–4 mm.
1 or 2, yellow to brown, mottled, mitten-shaped, 0.9–1.1 mm, smooth, glossy.
3 or 4, brown, sometimes mottled, subglobose or mitten-shaped, 1.5 mm, smooth.
= 16.
= 16, 32.
Trifolium tomentosum
Trifolium wormskioldii
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 wormskioldii is largely tetraploid and is widespread in western North America. Distinguishing T. wormskioldii from closely allied species (especially T. mucronatum) is sometimes difficult, which led R. C. Barneby (1989) to synonymize T. mucronatum and T. pinetorum under the former name. Trifolium wormskioldii produces long, white rhizomes; T. mucronatum produces only short rhizomes at most, often only small, fibrous roots or taproots (J. M. Gillett 1980). The distinction of T. pinetorum from T. wormskioldii was supported by N. W. Ellison et al. (2006); those authors did not include material of T. mucronatum in their DNA analyses.
Trifolium wormskioldii rhizomes may have been a food resource for Native American groups in the Pacific Northwest (N. J. Turner and H. V. Kuhnlein 1982).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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