Flora-Fauna

Trifolium echinatum M.Bieb.

First published in Flora Taurico-Caucasica 2: 216 (1808)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CVI nº 5; 1969)

• Life-form & habit: Annual herb, pubescent, with prostrate to ascending stems 10–50 cm long.

• Leaves: Stipules narrow, their free portion long, linear-lanceolate, herbaceous; leaflets oblong.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Heads shortly pedunculate, sometimes involucrate, more or less hispid, generally covered with numerous spreading reddish-brown hairs. Calyx teeth without marked nervation, subequal (the lower slightly longer and broader), somewhat ciliate, sometimes tuberculate at the base of hairs. Fruiting calyx closed, surrounded by erect to slightly incurved, subspinescent teeth. Corolla pale pink, about twice as long as the calyx.

• Fruit: Legume enclosed in the hardened, persistent calyx.

• Phenology: Flowers and fruits from April to June.

• Habitat & elevation: Grassy or ruderal sites and dry meadows, from coastal plains to lower mountain slopes.

• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from Hadeth (Beirut area), Tripoli, Qrayé, Yahchouch, Faraya–Rayfoun, Khirbet ej-Jaouzé, Blaouzé, Tannourine et-Tahta, Hasroun, Bân, Dimane, Haïrouna ascent, Ehden, Afqa, Chtaura, Ouadi el-ʿArayech, Nabatiyé, and Jisr el-Khardali.

• Native range: Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Krym, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Palestine, Romania, Sicilia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe (POWO).

• Introduced into: Alabama, Baltic States, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Louisiana (POWO).

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A polymorphic annual close to T. alexandrinum; differs by its uniformly pale pink corolla and rigid, subspinescent calyx teeth devoid of strong nerves. Lebanese populations are variable in hair density and calyx tuberculation but remain within the typical morphology of T. echinatum