''Trifolium buckwestiorum'' is a rare species of
clover
Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...
known by the common name Santa Cruz clover.
Distribution
It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, where it is known from nine or ten small occurrences in
Monterey
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
,
Santa Cruz, and
Sonoma Counties.
[The Nature Conservancy]
/ref> It may also occur in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Mendocino Counties,[Elkhorn Slough Local Plant Profile]
/ref> but its populations are very small and easily disturbed by threats such as vehicles, development, and feral pig
The feral pig is a domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorback and wild hog are Americanisms applied to feral pigs or boar-pig hybrids.
Definition
A feral ...
activity.[
It grows in forest, woodland, and coastal prairie habitat.][California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile]
/ref>
Description
It is an annual herb growing upright or decumbent in form, with hairless green or reddish herbage. The leaves are made up of finely toothed, oval shaped leaflets up to 1.5 centimeters long and bristle-tipped stipule
In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...
s.
The inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
is a head of flowers roughly a centimeter wide, the flowers held in a bowl-like involucre of wide, jagged-toothed bracts. Each flower has a calyx of sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...
s that narrow into fine bristles and a pink corolla under one centimeter long.
References
Further reading
*Isley, D. (1992). Innovations in California ''Trifolium'' and ''Lathyrus''. ''Madroño'' 39(2):90–97.
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
buckwestiorum
Endemic flora of California
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area
Plants described in 1992
Critically endangered flora of California
{{Trifolieae-stub