Trifolium arvense L.
haresfoot trefoil
Annual; stems densely sericeous, erect or ascending, not rooting at nodes. Lvs densely sericeous, especially on petioles and undersurface of leaflets; petioles c. 2-10-(20) mm long; leaflets narrowly obovate to oblong, obtuse to slightly emarginate, shortly mucronate, c. 5-20 mm long, with a few indistinct serrations; lateral veins thin and straight to leaflet margin; petiolules up to c. 1 mm long, ± equal; stipules oblong or ovate, acuminate. Infls axillary and terminal, spicate, cylindric, pedunculate, much > lvs especially at fruiting; fls numerous, sessile; bracts 0. Calyx densely sericeous, with 10 distinct veins, slightly inflated on all sides at fruiting; throat somewhat constricted, glabrous; calyx teeth subequal (lower slightly longer), much > corolla, linear, much > tube, ± erect or spreading at fruiting; sinuses obtuse. Corolla white or pink, persistent, exceeding inflated calyx tube at fruiting, 3-4 mm long. Pod glabrous, straight, < calyx, c. 2 mm long, 1-seeded; seeds c. 1 mm diam.
N.: locally common throughout especially in Hawke's Bay and dry areas of Wellington Province; S.: locally common to abundant except in Westland and Fiordland, particularly common in dry areas of Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago; St.: Halfmoon Bay; Ch.
Europe to Asia Minor, Caucasia, N. and W. Asia, N. Africa 1880
Waste places, pasture, grassland, riverbeds, coastal situations and cultivated land.
FL Aug-May.
Haresfoot trefoil is distinguished by the narrow hairy lvs and the long, sericeous calyx teeth which give a softly hairy appearance to the heads (Plate 13). N.Z. material can be referred to the type var.
