''Trifolium macrocephalum'' 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 largehead clover or bighead clover. It is native to the Great Basin region of the western United States, from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

to northern

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 ...

, and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the 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. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. It occurs in several types of habitat, including

sagebrush scrub Sagebrush scrub is a vegetation type (biome) of mid to high elevation Western United States deserts characterized by low growing, drought resistant shrubs including sagebrush (''Artemisia tridentata'') and its associates.Karen Wiese, Sierra Nevada ...

, juniper woodland, yellow pine forest, and mountain woodlands. It prefers thin-soiled, rocky areas.

Description

''Trifolium macrocephalum'' is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow ho ...

perennial herb taking an upright form. The herbage is hairy. The leaves are made up of five or six thick oval leaflets each measuring up to 2.5 centimeters in length. 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 crowded, egg-shaped and up to 5 or 6 centimeters long. 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 with lobes narrowing into bristles which are coated in long woolly hairs. The flower corolla may be nearly 3 cm in length and is pink to lavender in color, or sometimes bicolored. It blooms early in spring. As both the Latin and common names suggest, the flower head is unusually large for a clover.

Gallery

Image: Tiifolium macrocephalum iNat-112793763.jpg, Showing outsized flower head

References

External links

*
Calflora Database: ''Trifolium macrocephalum'' (Big headed clover, Largehead clover) Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Trifolium macrocephalum''Washington Burke MuseumUC CalPhotos gallery: ''Trifolium macrocephalum''
macrocephalum Flora of California Flora of the Great Basin Flora of Nevada Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Trifolieae-stub