Trifolium wormskioldii |
Trifolium eriocephalum |
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coast clover, cow clover, cows clover, salt marsh clover, springbank clover, wormskjold's clover |
woolly-head clover |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, 10–40 cm, glabrous; rhizomes elongate. | Herbs perennial, 12–46 cm, sparsely hairy to densely villous, appressed-pubescent, or glabrate. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect, ascending, or decumbent, branched. |
erect or decumbent, branched. |
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Leaves | 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. |
palmate; stipules lanceolate or ovate, 1–5 cm, margins entire or denticulate, apex acuminate or acute; petiole 1–15 cm; petiolules 1 mm; leaflets 3, blades linear, linear-elliptic, elliptic, lanceolate, lanceolate-oblong, or obovate, 1–5 × 0.4–1.2 cm, base cuneate, veins fine or ± thickened, margins denticulate or serrulate, apex acuminate or acute, surfaces appressed-pubescent abaxially, glabrous, densely villous, or sparsely or densely pilose adaxially. |
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Inflorescences | 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. |
terminal or axillary, 25–70-flowered, inverted or horizontal, ellipsoid or globose to subglobose, 2–3 × 1–3 cm, rachis prolonged beyond flowers; involucres absent. |
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Peduncles | 1.5–11 cm. |
bent distally, proximal to flowers, 3–18 cm. |
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Pedicels | straight, 1.5–2 mm; bracteoles linear or ovate, 1–2 mm. |
reflexed, to 0.3 mm; bracteoles absent. |
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Flowers | 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. |
9–18 mm; calyx campanulate, curved in fruit, 4–11 mm, villous, veins 10, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes unequal, 2–3 times tube, subulate, often strongly curved and twisted, plumose, orifice open; corolla white, cream, or purple, 8–16 mm, banner oblanceolate, 8–16 × 3–5 mm, apex rounded or retuse, recurved; ovaries pubescent distally. |
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Legumes | oblong, 2–4 mm. |
ovoid, 2–3.5 mm. |
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Seeds | 3 or 4, brown, sometimes mottled, subglobose or mitten-shaped, 1.5 mm, smooth. |
(1 or)2–4, yellow-brown to brown, mitten-shaped or subglobose, 1.2–2 mm, smooth. |
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2n | = 16, 32. |
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Trifolium wormskioldii |
Trifolium eriocephalum |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Saline flats, beaches, meadows, grassy areas, alluvial soils. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–2700 m. (0–8900 ft.) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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w United States
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Discussion | 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.) |
Subspecies 6 (6 in the flora). Trifolium eriocephalum was revised by J. M. Gillett (1971). The subspecies exhibit unusually complex distributional patterns, and overlapping morphological features sometimes make identifications problematic (M. Zohary and D. Heller 1984). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Trifolium | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Lupinaster wormskioldii, T. fendleri, T. fimbriatum, T. heterodon, T. spinulosum | |||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Lehmann: Index Seminum (Hamburg) 1825: 17. (1825) | Nuttall in J. Torrey and A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 313. (1838) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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