Trifolium fragiferum L.
strawberry clover
Perennial; stems glabrous, creeping, rooting at nodes. Lvs ± glabrous or sparsely hairy on petiole and undersurface of leaflets; petioles up to c. 100 mm long; leaflets usually elliptic, sometimes ovate or obovate, obtuse or obcordate, mucronate, cuneate at base, finely serrate, c. 5-20 mm long; lateral veins recurved and thickened toward leaflet margin; petiolules up to 1.5 mm long, subequal; stipules ovate-oblong, acuminate. Infls axillary, racemose, globose or ellipsoid, pedunculate, > lvs; fls numerous; pedicels up to 1 mm long; bracts subtending fls free, 2-6 mm long, but those at infl. base connate. Calyx tomentose on upper side, moderately hairy when inflated, with c. 20 indistinct veins, greatly inflated on upper side at fruiting; throat open, ± glabrous; calyx teeth slightly unequal, < corolla, erect at fruiting; 2 upper teeth longer, narrow-lanceolate, ± = or > tube, conspicuous on the inflated calyx; 3 lower teeth lanceolate; sinuses acute or obtuse. Corolla pinkish to reddish, persistent but ± enclosed by the inflated calyx at fruiting, 5-7 mm long. Pod glabrous, straight, < calyx, 2-4 mm long, 1-2-seeded; seeds c. 1.5-2 mm diam.
N.: occasional to locally common throughout but not collected from Taranaki; S.: locally common except in Westland and Fiordland; Ch.
Europe to W. Asia, N. Africa 1898
A wide range of habitats including lawns, pasture, waste places, and saline coastal sites.
FL Nov-May.
Strawberry clover is vegetatively similar to T. repens as both have creeping rooting stems, however the lvs of strawberry clover are narrower, elliptic, and have thickened, curved, lateral veins. At flowering, the densely hairy upper side of the calyx (Plate 13), and at fruiting, the inflated head, distinguishes this sp. from T. repens. N.Z. material can be referred to the type var.
