SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM INCARNATUM

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. TRIFOLIUM/Sect.
TRIFOLIUM

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

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

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