Trifolium striatum L.
striated clover
Annual; stems moderately to densely pilose, procumbent or erect and spreading, not rooting at nodes. Lvs moderately to densely sericeous; petioles c. 5-40-(60) mm long; leaflets obovate, acute to obtuse or slightly emarginate, sometimes mucronate, cuneate at base, rather irregularly and indistinctly finely serrate, c. 5-20 mm long; lateral veins thin and straight to leaflet margin; petiolules < 1 mm long, ± equal; stipules ovate, acuminate. Infls axillary and pseudoterminal, spicate, ovoid or cylindric, sessile, somewhat < or ± = subtending lf; fls numerous, sessile; bracts 0 but stipule of subtending lf partly enfolding young infl. Calyx moderately to densely hairy, with 10 distinct veins, somewhat inflated on all sides at fruiting; throat slightly constricted, thickened, with a ring of hairs; calyx teeth subequal or lower teeth longer, < or = corolla at flowering, lanceolate, < tube, erect at fruiting; sinuses obtuse. Corolla pink, persistent but ± enclosed by inflated calyx at fruiting, 4-5 mm long. Pod glabrous, straight, < calyx, 2-3 mm long, 1-seeded; seeds c. 1.5-2 mm diam.
N.: Great Barrier Id, Auckland City, Tutira (Hawke's Bay), and common in Wellington Province; S.: Nelson City, common in lowland Marlborough and Canterbury, N. and C. Otago.
Europe, Mediterranean to Caucasia, Iran, N. Africa 1878
Dry waste places, grassland and pasture, coastal areas and cultivated land.
FL Nov-Feb.
T. striatum is often confused with T. scabrum from which it differs in the thin, straight lateral veins of the leaflets, and the short calyx inflated somewhat on all sides at fruiting and with erect calyx teeth (Plate 13).
