SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM INCARNATUM
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. TRIFOLIUM/Sect.
Common Names:- Crimson clover or Italian clover
Homotypic Synonyms:- Trifolium stellatum subsp. incarnatum.
Meaning:- Trifolium (L) With three leaflets.
Incarnatum (L) Blood red.
General description:- Short to medium erect annual.
Stems:-
1) (10-)20-50 cm, simple or branching only from the base, erect or ascending; hairs
usually patent below and appressed above.
Leaves:-
1) Leaflets, 8-25 mm, obovate-cuneate to suborbicular, denticulate towards the
apex.
2) Stipules ovate, blunt, often herbaceous, sometimes pigmented, angled or
obscurely dentate.
Flowers:-
1) Heads, 10-40 mm, solitary, oblong-ovoid to cylindrical, peduncles long.
2) Calyx-teeth, as long as or longer than the tube, linear, acute, patent in fruit.
3) Corolla, 10-12 mm, equalling or exceeding the calyx, blood-red, pink, cream or
white.
Key features:-
1) Calyx-teeth, subequal, all as long as or longer than the tube, with erecto-patent
hairs
Habitat:- Grassy, cultivated and waste places, fields and vineyards, roadsides,
occasionally coastal.
Distribution:- S. & W. Europe; cultivated also in a large part of Europe and
widespread as an escape except in the extreme north. Previously unrecorded from
Crete, but probably introduced as an escapee.
Flowering time:- Apr-July.
Photos by:- Manolis Petakakis
