SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM SUFFOCATUM
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. LOTOIDES/Sect.
Common Names:- Suffocated clover
Homotypic Synonyms:- Amoria suffocata, Micrantheum suffocatum,
Microphyton suffocatum.
Meaning:- Trifolium (L) With three leaflets.
Suffocatum (L) Suffocating (the heads turning to the ground)
General description:- Glabrescent, caespitose annual.
Stems:-
1) 1-3(-5) cm, procumbent, internodes rarely reaching 5 mm.
Leaves:-
1) Leaves long-petiolate, 10-60 mm.
2) Leaflets, 3-7 mm, broadly obtriangular, ± truncate, dentate at the apex.
2) Stipules, ovate, acuminate, scarious.
Flower:-
1) Heads, 5-6 mm, sessile, numerous, often crowded towards centre of the plant,
rarely somewhat separated, then ovate.
2) Calyx, broadly cylindrical, 10-veined; sparsely pubescent at first, glabrescent;
a) teeth, all as long as the tube, lanceolate or subulate, recurved;
3) Corolla, 3-4 mm, white;
a) standard, a little shorter than the calyx.
Fruit:-
1) Legume, 2-seeded.
Key features:-
1) Stem, internodes rarely reaching 5 mm.
2) Heads, congested or confluent.
3) Corolla, shorter than the calyx.
Habitat:- Gravelly coastal habitats, patches of meadow in dry open shrubby
vegetation, roadsides, archaeological sites. 0-800 m. (-1400 m. in dolines).
Distribution:- Scattered in W Greece. - W Europe Mediterranean area and SW
Asia, eastwards to NW Iran and Caucasus. Fairly widely scattered on Crete, but
more so in the west.
Flowering time:- Apr to early June.
Photos by:- Giorgos Pantakis & Len Worthington
