Trifolium vesiculosum |
Trifolium buckwestiorum |
|
---|---|---|
arrow-leaf clover |
Santa Cruz clover |
|
Habit | Herbs annual, 15–70 cm, glabrous. | Herbs annual, 5–40 cm, glabrous. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched. |
decumbent to ascending or erect, slightly branched. |
Leaves | palmate; stipules linear-lanceolate, 1–3.5 cm, margins entire, apex subulate or setaceous; petiole 0.5–10 cm; petiolules 1 mm; leaflet 3, blades obovate to oblong, elliptic or lanceolate, 0.5–4 × 0.5–1.5 cm, base cuneate, veins prominent, thickened, margins spinulose-denticulate, apex apiculate, surfaces glabrous. |
palmate; stipules whitish with prominent green veins, ovate, 0.3–0.5 cm, margins lacerate, apex acute to acuminate; petiole 1–2.4 cm; petiolules to 0.5 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to elliptic, 0.6–1.5 × 0.3–0.8 cm, base cuneate, veins ± thickened distally, margins denticulate, sometimes entire proximally, apex rounded, acute, or retuse, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, 50–100+-flowered, globose, ovoid, or oblong, 3–6 × 2–3.5 cm; involucres absent. |
terminal or axillary, 15–20-flowered (early inflorescences hidden in stipules, subsessile, 2–5-flowered, flowers cleistogamous), subglobose, 0.5–0.8 × 0.6–0.8 cm; involucres flattened or shallowly bowl-shaped, 6–8 mm, when folded, nearly hiding calyces, glabrous or sparsely hairy, lobes 4 or 5, ± parallel-sided, 3 or 4-toothed. |
Peduncles | 1–12 cm. |
1–3.5 cm. |
Pedicels | absent; bracteoles lanceolate, 6–7 mm, acuminate. |
straight, to 0.5 mm; bracteoles absent. |
Flowers | 12–16 mm; calyx urceolate, not bilabiate, inflated in fruit, 6–10 mm, glabrous, veins 20–36, connected by transverse veins in fruit, tube 3–5 mm, lobes reflexed, subequal, subulate, as long as tube, orifice constricted; corolla white becoming pink, 12–15 mm, banner ovate, broadly clawed, striate, 12–15 × 2–4 mm, apex acute-acuminate. |
7–8 mm; calyx tubular, 4–5 mm, glabrous, veins 10, tube 2–2.5 mm, lobes subequal, triangular, margins conspicuously 2 or 3-toothed, apex aristate, orifice open; corolla pale pink or white, 6–7 mm, banner oblong, 5–7 × 1 mm, apex emarginate or erose. |
Legumes | ellipsoid, 2.5–2.5 mm, shorter than calyx. |
ovoid, 2.5 mm. |
Seeds | 2 or 3, brown, ovoid, 1–1.5 mm, roughened. |
1, dark brown, slightly mottled, ovoid, 2 mm, smooth. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Trifolium vesiculosum |
Trifolium buckwestiorum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Fields, roadsides, forest openings. | Meadows, roadsides, grassy hillsides. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; LA; MA; MO; MS; OK; OR; SC; TX; VA; WA; s Europe; e Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America]
|
CA |
Discussion | Trifolium vesiculosum was first introduced into cultivation in the United States in 1963 and is grown in southern and western states (J. D. Miller and H. D. Wells 1985). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Trifolium buckwestiorum, which ranges from Mendocino to Monterey counties, is unique among clovers in North America because of its aboveground cleistogamous, axillary flowers. The only other clover in North America that produces cleistogamous flowers is T. amphianthum, which produces its cleistogamous flowers at ground level and then pushes them into the substrate. (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 | Savi: Fl. Pis. 2: 165. (1798) — (as vessiculosum) | Isely: Madroño 39: 90, fig. 2. (1992) |
Web links |
|