SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM LIGUSTICUM
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. TRIFOLIUM/Sect.
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Trifolium (L) With three leaflets.
Ligusticum (L) Dioscorides' name for a plant from Liguria NE Italy.
General description:- Decumbent to erect, sparsely pubescent annual.
Stems:-
1) 10-40(-60) cm, dark green, with sparse patent hairs, ascending or diffuse.
Leaves:-
1) All leaves altemate and petiolate.
2) Leaflets, 10-20 × 5-13 mm, broadly obovate, emarginate, without prominent
recurved lateral veins.
3) Stipules, ovate or oblong, free portion lanceolate-setaceous.
Flowers:-
1) Heads, 6-15 mm, ovoid or oblong, often paired, then one axillary and long-
pedunculate, the other terminal but laterally displaced and shortly pedunculate.
2) Calyx, 4-6 mm tube campanulate,10-veined, mouth narrowed by a ring-like
callosity.
a) teeth, setaceous from a triangular base, ± spreading in fruit.
3) Corolla, 3-4 mm, much shorter than the calyx, pale pink.
Key features:-
1) Heads, spicate, oblong, cylindrical or conical in fruit.
2) Stipules, entire or obscurely dentate.
3) Corolla, much shorter than the calyx.
4) Calyx-tube, obconical or campanulate.
5) Stipules, lanceolate, entire.
Habitat:- Damp to wet meadows, by streams and in open Castanea woodland 0-
800 m, mainly on non-calcareous substrates.
Distribution:- A few records from W Peloponnisos - Mainly in the W Mediterranean
area, extending locally to NW Turkey and Lebanon. Rare on Crete, currently known
only from the west of the Lefka Ori massif.
Flowering time:- End Apr to mid-June.
Photos by:- Thanasis Zachos
