Family |
Fabaceae
Trifolium tomentosum
L.
Trifolium tomentosum L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 771 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, pp. 292–293, Pl. CXI, 1–3; 1970)
Description
Life-form & habit: Annual herb with hairless vegetative parts and spreading, prostrate or ascending stems, usually 10–50 cm long; dwarf forms have very short stems.
Leaves: Stalked leaves with obovate leaflets, often notched at the tip. Stipules membranous, ovate-lanceolate and pointed.
Inflorescence & flowers: Small heads, usually on stalks shorter than the adjacent leaves. Calyx hairy to woolly, with green teeth no longer than the tube. Corolla pink and inconspicuous, at most twice as long as the calyx.
Fruit: Fruiting calyces become inflated and net-veined, forming compact heads usually covered with woolly hairs. In the eastern form described by Mouterde, the two upper teeth curve outwards and lie against the swollen calyx.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Flowering February–May.
Habitat & elevation: Grassy places, roadsides and woodland.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Ras Bayada, Tyr, Nahr Damour, Bir Hassen, Beirut, Tripoli, Abey, Baabda, Bikfaya, below Kafr Matta, Arzoun, below Beit Meri, Qartaba, Senaya, above Baalbeck, Qaa, Aana, Zahle, Fraidiss near Hasbaya, Hasbaya–Rachaya and Kornet Chehwan.
Syrian distribution: Wadi el Qarn and its eastern surroundings, Tartous, Homs, Hama, Ezraa, south of Deraa, Lake Trane, Soueida, Kafer, Jabal Qasyoun and Ain Safsaf.
Native range: Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Sudan-South Sudan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.
Introduced into: California, Cape Provinces, Chile Central, Czechia-Slovakia, Florida, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, Massachusetts, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, North Carolina, Queensland, South Carolina, Tasmania, Victoria, West Himalaya, Western Australia.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
Mouterde treated Trifolium bullatum within this species, whereas Kew accepts it separately. Localities explicitly assigned to that taxon are excluded here. Kew includes T. curvisepalum within T. tomentosum.