SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM MICRANTHUM
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. LOTOIDES/Sect.
Common Names:- Slender (yellow) trefoil
Homotypic Synonyms:- Amarenus micranthus, Chrysaspis micrantha.
Melilotus microcarpus, Trifolium filiforme subsp. micranthum
Meaning:- Trifolium (L) With three leaflets.
Micranthum (L) Small-flowered, having small flowers.
General description:- Slender, usually trailing annual.
Stems:-
1) 2-10(-20) cm, glabrescent, procumbent or ascending.
Leaves:-
1) Leaflets, up to 5(-8) mm, obcordate to obovate with 4-9 pairs of lateral veins,
terminal leaflet subsessile.
2) Stipules, oblong or ovate.
Flowers:-
1) Heads, c. 4 mm, 1- to 6-flowered.
2) Peduncles and pedicels, filiform, pedicels, as long as or longer than the upper
limb of the calyx-tube.
3) Calyx-teeth, unequal, the lower longer than the lower limb of the calyx-tube.
4) Corolla, 2-3(-4) mm, yellow, becoming yellowish-brown after anthesis,
a) standard, oblong, nearly smooth, scarcely exceeding ripe the fruit.
Fruit:-
1) Seeds, ovoid or ellipsoid, non-flattish or only slightly so, hilum rounded, 1-1.3 x
08-1 mm. Surface smooth, medium-lustrous, yellow or pale-brown (older Seeds)
Key features:-
1) Corolla, 2-3(4-) mm.
2) Fruiting pedicels, 1-1½ times as long as the upper limb of the calyx-tube.
Habitat:- Damp to wet meadows, seasonally wet depressions, dolines. 0-1200 m.
Distribution:- Scattered in W. Europe and the Mediterranean area, but not
common, Scattered localities across Crete.
Flowering time:- Apr-June.
Photo by:- Dr. Armin Jagel
