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Trifolium pratense

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Genus: Trifolium

red clover

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: short-lived perennial herbs with taproots.

Stems: Stems usually decumbent, not rooting at the nodes, 0.5–10 dm long.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves compound. Alternate. Leaflets broadly elliptic, rhombic, or obovate, 15–30(–50) mm long, 7–15 mm wide, often with a reddish or dark patch. Apex minutely denticulate. Surfaces pubescent or upper surface glabrate. Leaflet margins entire. Lateral veins ending at margins. Petiolate. Stipules oblong, adnate to petioles ca. 4/5 their length, triangular in upper part and abruptly contracted to the setaceous apex.

Flowers: Flowers in heads terminal or pseudoaxillary, globose or ovoid, 20–35 mm long, 20–25 mm in diameter, usually sessile or on peduncles up to 200 mm long, usually subtended by reduced leaves. Flowers papilionaceous; pedicels 0–1 mm long, not reflexed after anthesis, bracts absent, bracteoles absent. Calyx tube 3–4.5 mm long, 10–nerved, glabrous to sparsely pilose, the throat more or less closed by an epidermal thickening covered by hairs, the teeth narrowly deltate, the lowest one 4–8 mm long, the 4 others 2–5 mm long. Corolla reddish purple, pink, or sometimes white, 12–20 mm long. Stamens 10; upper stamen distinct, the other 9 connate into a tube. Ovary superior.

Fruit: Pods ovoid; enclosed in calyx; irregularly circumscissile. Seeds 1(2); yellow or brownish; ovoid; 1.5–2 mm long.

Ploidy: 2n = 14; 28; 48

Habitat: Wet; open areas such as pastures and lawns.

Elevation Range: 820–2,070 m.

Historical Distribution

Accepted Subtaxa (in Hawai'i) (1)

Trifolium pratense subsp. pratense

Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

Maui Naturalized
Hawai'i Naturalized

Dispersal Agents

Water/Ocean
Other Animals

Vegetative Reproduction

Pollinators

Notes

  • 820-2070m
  • Description digitized by Joanne Lum
  • Description digitized from the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
  • Hawaii in 1932

Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 768 (1753)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Trifolium pratense L. hawai'i volcanoes nat'l. park, along crater rim trail, kilauea iki crater, parking area for thurston lava tube PRESERVED_SPECIMEN w. l. wagner, r. gustafson, w. c. martin & t. w. flynn 4863 Hawaii US 7/26/1983
2 Trifolium pratense L. waimee, s kohala. Well-moist place. PRESERVED_SPECIMEN e. y. hosaka 2021 Hawaii US 4/26/1938
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