SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM BOCCONEI
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. TRIFOLIUM/Sect.
Common Names:- Twin-headed clover
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Trifolium (L) With three leaflets.
Bocconei (L) For Dr. Paola Boccone (1633-1704), Sicilian physician
and botanist.
General description:- Erect to ascending annual.
Stems:-
1) (2-)5-25(-30) cm, densely pubescent, erect or ascending, sparingly branched.
Leaves:-
1) Leaflets, 7-23 mm oblanceolate, subglabrous, shallowly dentate in the upper half,
lateral veins slender, almost straight.
2) Stipules, broadly lanceolate, aristate, upper ones not dilated.
Flowers:-
1) Heads, often paired, sessile, c. 10 mm, broadly cylindrical, hardened at maturity,
not disarticulating.
2) Bracts, lacking.
3) Calyx, tube 10-veined, appressed-pubescent.
a) teeth, unequal, the longest equalling the tube.
b) mouth of calyx, open, without a ring of hairs.
4) Corolla, c. 6 mm, equalling the calyx, pinkish, persistent.
a) wings pilose.
Key features:-
1) Fruiting calyx not readily naturally detaching.
2) Tube not inflated, teeth straight or connivent.
Habitat:-Seasonally wet places in dry open shrubby vegetation, open coniferous
woodland and gorges, on non-calcareous substrates. 0-600 m.
Distribution:- Few records from N mainland Greece and Ionian Islands. - W Europe
and Mediterranean area eastwards at least to W Anatolia. Rare on Crete currently
known from only a few scattered locations in the C and W of the island.
Flowering time:- Mainly May-June.
Photos by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Commons
