Taxonomic status:Accepted
Occurrence status:Present
Establishment means:Naturalised
Prostrate or tufted perennial herb; stems 5–50 cm long, often rooting at nodes, sparsely hairy to glabrous. Leaves palmately trifoliolate, long-petiolate; leaflets ovate, elliptic or obcordate, 5–30 mm long, 3–18 mm wide, somewhat glaucous, glabrous or hairy along nerves and margin, prominently veined particularly near margins, spinulose-toothed, apex obtuse or retuse; stipules membranous. Inflorescence 10–30-flowered, axillary, globose to semi-globose or ovoid, 8–20 mm long, 8–20 mm wide, pedunculate; flowers subsessile. Calyx at first c. 4 mm long, usually pilose to woolly on upper side, tube cylindric-obconical, 10–veined, teeth unequal, more or less the same length as tube, spiny, lower 3 teeth somewhat shorter than upper 2; corolla 6–8 mm long, white or pink, persistent; standard marginate or minutely crenate. Pod ovoid to globose, c. 2 mm long, included in inflated calyx tube;, calyx pilose or hispid, tube reticulately veined, teeth erect or recurved, throat narrowed, with a ring of hairs; seeds 1 or 2, reniform, c. 1 mm long, brown. Flowers mainly Nov.–Apr.
*CVU, *DunT, *EGL, *GipP, *Glep, *Gold, *HNF, *HSF, *MuF, *MuM, *NIS, *OtP, *OtR, *Strz, *VAlp, *VRiv, *VVP, *WaP, *Wim. Naturalised all States except NT. Native to parts of northern Africa, Eurasia. A common and well-established weed throughout much of Victoria.
Zohary & Heller (1984) recognize 5 varieties but apparently only the type variety occurs in Victoria. Plants display a deal of variation in habit, size and indumentum apparently due, at least in part, to the environment in which they grow.
Zohary M. & Heller, D. (1984). The genus Trifolium, Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem.
Bioregion | Occurrence status | Establishment means | |
---|---|---|---|
Murray Mallee | present | naturalised | |
Wimmera | present | naturalised | |
Glenelg Plain | present | naturalised | |
Victorian Volcanic Plain | present | naturalised | |
Victorian Riverina | present | naturalised | |
Murray Fans | present | naturalised | |
Gippsland Plain | present | naturalised | |
Otway Plain | present | naturalised | |
Warrnambool Plain | present | naturalised | |
Goldfields | present | naturalised | |
Central Victorian Uplands | present | naturalised | |
Dundas Tablelands | present | naturalised | |
Northern Inland Slopes | present | naturalised | |
East Gippsland Lowlands | present | naturalised | |
Highlands-Southern Fall | present | naturalised | |
Highlands-Northern Fall | present | naturalised | |
Otway Ranges | present | naturalised | |
Strzelecki Ranges | present | naturalised | |
Victorian Alps | present | naturalised |
State |
---|
Western Australia |
South Australia |
Queensland |
New South Wales |
Australian Capital Territory |
Victoria |
Tasmania |