''Trifolium eriocephalum'' is a 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 woollyhead clover or hairy head clover.

Distribution

The plant is native to the north-western United States, and 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 ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. It is a common plant of several types of habitat, including

Coast redwood ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...

forest, coastal prairie, mixed evergreen forest, and

yellow pine forest Ponderosa pine forest is a plant association and plant community dominated by ponderosa pine and found in western North America. It is found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast Ranges in the Western United States and Western Canada. I ...

Description

''Trifolium eriocephalum'' is a hairy perennial herb producing an upright, unbranched stem. The leaves are made up of oval leaflets up to 4 centimeters long. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are forme ...

is a head of flowers up to 3 centimeters long with flowers spreading and soon drooping. The flower has a densely hairy, tubular 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 with long, narrow linear lobes that may bend outward. The white or yellowish corolla may be up to 1.4 centimeters long.

Subspecies

*''Trifolium eriocephalum'' ssp. ''cusickii'' — Cusick's clover,

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted fo ...

region. *''Trifolium eriocephalum'' ssp. ''eriocephalum'' Calflora: ''Trifolium eriocephalum'' ssp. ''eriocephalum''
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References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Trifolium eriocephalum'' (Woollyhead clover)USDA Plants Profile for ''Trifolium eriocephalum'' (woollyhead clover)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Trifolium eriocephalum'' var. ''eriocephalum''Washington Burke MuseumUC CalPhotos gallery: ''Trifolium eriocephalum''
eriocephalum Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of Utah Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Trifolieae-stub