Trifolium aureum Pollich
yellow clover
Annual or biennial; stems moderately to densely clothed in appressed hairs, erect, not rooting at nodes. Lvs ± glabrous or sparsely hairy on petioles; petioles c. (3)-5-15 mm long; leaflets obovate-oblong to elliptic, obtuse to slightly emarginate, occasionally mucronate, cuneate at base, finely serrate, c. 7-20 mm long; lateral veins thin and straight to leaflet margin; petiolules < 1 mm long, ± equal; stipules ovate-oblong, acute to acuminate. Infls axillary, racemose, cylindric, pedunculate, much > lvs; fls numerous; pedicels c. 0.5 mm long; bracts subtending fls reduced to glandular hairs. Calyx glabrous, with 5 indistinct veins, not inflated at fruiting; throat open, glabrous; calyx teeth unequal, < corolla, erect at fruiting; 2 upper teeth shorter, triangular, = or < tube; 3 lower teeth lanceolate and > tube; sinuses mostly obtuse. Corolla yellow, persistent, 6-7 mm long. Pod glabrous, straight, ± = or > calyx, c. 2 mm long, 1-seeded; seeds c. 1.5 mm diam.
N.: collected once from near Pukeatua (near Te Awamutu), also reported from Palmerston North; S.: locally established in inland and montane areas of Canterbury and Otago from Hanmer to Lake Wakatipu.
Europe, Asia Minor, Caucasia 1899
Waste places, grassland, scrubland, riverbeds.
FL Dec-Apr.
T. aureum is the stoutest of the 4 naturalised yellow-flowered clovers, and has the largest heads. N.Z. material can be referred to the type subsp. The sp. has been previously known in N.Z. as T. agrarium.
