Trifolium micranthum Viv.
lesser suckling clover
Annual; stems glabrous or sparsely hairy, procumbent or ascending, not rooting at nodes. Lvs usually glabrous; petioles 1-2 mm long; leaflets obovate, obtuse or emarginate, rarely some leaflets shortly mucronate, cuneate at base, finely serrate, c. 2-8 mm long; lateral veins thin and straight to leaflet margin; petiolules < 1 mm long, subequal; stipules ovate, acute. Infls axillary, racemose or umbellate, pedunculate, > lvs; fls 1-7; pedicels 0.5-1.5 mm long; bracts subtending fls reduced to glandular hairs. Calyx glabrous, 5-veined, not inflated at fruiting; throat open, glabrous; calyx teeth unequal, < corolla, erect at fruiting; 2 upper teeth shorter, triangular, < tube; 3 lower teeth lanceolate, ± = or > tube; sinuses obtuse. Corolla yellow, persistent, 2-3 mm long. Pod glabrous, straight, > calyx, 1-2 mm long, 1-(2)-seeded; seeds c. 1 mm diam.
N.: established locally throughout, but not collected from Hawke's Bay or Taranaki, common in Wellington Province; S.: Kaiapoi, Christchurch, Otago Peninsula, and near Alexandra; Ch.
W. and S. Europe to Caucasia, Iran, N. Africa 1854
Dry waste places, lawns, gardens, pasture.
FL Oct-Jan.
T. micranthum is related to T. dubium and may easily be confused with reduced forms of that sp.; it may therefore be more common than the above distribution indicates. T. micranthum differs from T. dubium in having shorter petioles, subequal petiolules, and the heads usually with very few long-pedicellate fls (Plate 13). T. micranthum has been previously known in N.Z. as T. filiforme.
