SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM BOISSIERI
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. LOTOIDES/Sect.
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Chrysaspis boissieri, Trlfolium speciosum
Meaning:- Trifolium (L) With three leaflets.
Boissieri (L) For Pierre Edmond Boissier
General description:- Slender, suberect annual.
Stems:-
1) 10-30 cm tall, single or sparingly branched from the base, sparsely pilose to
glabrescent.
Leaves:-
1) Leaflets, 10-18(-24) mm, oblong-elliptical, glabrous or hairy, the terminal
distinctly petiolulate, shallowly dentate in the upper half.
2) Stipules, broadly lanceolate, free part rather short, triangular.
Flowers:-
1) Heads, several, 15-25 flowered, subglobose, c. l5 mm in diam; lax.
2) Peduncles, shorter than or equalling the leaves.
3) Pedicels, 1-2 mm, longer than the upper limb of the calyx-tube.
4) Calyx tube, 5-veined, glabrous.
5) Calyx-teeth, very unequal.
a) upper, equalling or shorter than the upper limb of the calyx-tube.
b) lower, 2-3 times longer than the upper.
6) Corolla 6-9 mm, yellow, persistent and fading brownish, slightly keeled.
a) standard, narrower, more or less folded longitudinally over the legume
Fruit:-
1) Legume, stalked, slightly exceeding the calyx. 1(-2)-seeded.
Key features:-
1) Corolla, (5-)6-10 mm.
2) Legume, scarcely exceeding the style
3) Peduncles, shorter than or equalling the leaves.
4) Pedicels, 1-2 mm, longer than the upper limb of the calyx-tube.
Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, scrubland vegetation , open coniferous
woodland, olive groves, gravelly road verges, 0-600(-1000) m.
Distribution:- Few records from W Greece. - An E Mediterranean species, also in
Cyprus, scattered in W, S & SE Anatolia, extending io Syria and Iraq. Fairly well
scattered across Crete, but more-so in the east and north-west.
Flowering time:- Late March to early June
Photos by:- Dr. Armin Jagel
