Flora of New Zealand Series

trigonel

Annual or short-lived perennial; stems ± glabrous, procumbent, not rooting at nodes. Lvs glabrous; petioles 10-30-(50) mm long; leaflets usually obtriangular, rarely obovate, ± obcordate, usually mucronate, cuneate at base, sharply serrate, c. 4-10 mm long; lateral veins thin and ± straight to leaflet margin; petiolules < 1 mm long, ± equal; stipules lanceolate, acuminate. Infls axillary, umbellate, pedunculate, < lvs; fls 1-3-(5), subsessile; bracts subtending fls connate. Calyx ± glabrous or sparsely hairy, 10-veined, not inflated at fruiting; throat open, ± glabrous; calyx teeth equal, < corolla, narrowly triangular, ± = or > tube, slightly spreading at fruiting; sinuses acute. Corolla white or pink, persistent, 5-10 mm long. Pod sparsely to moderately hairy, slightly curved, > calyx, 5-8 mm long, 4-9-seeded; seeds c. 1-1.5 mm diam.

N.: Auckland City, Opotiki District, Tutira (Hawke's Bay), locally common in Wellington Province; S.: vicinity of Nelson City, lowland Marlborough, common in lowland Canterbury, N. and C. Otago, Dunedin, Bluff; Ch.

W. and S. Europe, N.W. Africa 1930

Dry waste places, depleted pastures, gardens, riverbeds, lawns.

FL Aug-Mar.

Trigonel is distinguished from all other naturalised clovers by the few-flowered heads, glabrous lvs and the many-seeded pod which exceeds the calyx. Trigonel has been previously known in N.Z. as Falcatula ornithopodioides, Trigonella ornithopodioides and Trigonella purpurascens.