SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TRIFOLIUM SCABRUM
Including: Trifolium lucanicum
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. TRIFOLIUM/Sect.
Common Names:- Rough trefoil
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Trifolium (L) With three leaflets.
Scabrum (L) With a surface rough to the touch.
General description:- Annual.
Stems:-
1) 5-25 cm, rigid, flexuous, numerous, procumbent or ascending.
Leaves:-
1) Leaflets, 5-10 mm, obovate-cuneate, coriaceous, denticulate, lateral veins
recurved and prominent at the margins.
2) Stipules, ovate or oblong with a setaceous apex, entire.
Flowers:-
1) Heads, 5-12 mm, numerous, mostly axillary, sessile, globose or ovoid. attenuate
and scarcely clasped at the base by the stipules.
2) Calyx, persistent in fruit:
a) teeth rigid, spinose, slightly recurved in fruit, the lowest one longer than the
tube.
4) Corolla, 4-5 mm, whitish, rarely pink, usually shorter than the calyx.
Fruit:-
1) Legume, nearly always included in the calyx-tube, 1- to 2-seeded.
Key features:-
1) Lateral, veins of the leaflets recurved, often ± thickened towards the margins.
2) Corolla, 4-5 mm, equalling or slightly exceeding the calyx.
3) Axillary heads, numerous.
Habitat:- Sandy and gravelly coastal habitats, dry open shrubby vegetation, open
coniferous woodland, occasionally in olive groves and fallow fields. 0-1100 (-1600)
m.
Distribution:- Widespread throughout the Mediterranean. Widespread on Crete.
Flowering time:- Mostly Mar-May.
Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis
TRIFOLIUM LUCANICUM
Homotypic Synonyms:- Trifolium compactum
Meaning:- Lucanicum (L) From Luca, Malta.
Resembling Trifolium scabrum, but differing in the following characters.
1) Subtending stipules rounded, whitish, concealing the tube of lowermost calyces.
2) Flowering heads ovoid-cylindrical, broadbased.
3) Calyx-teeth, more recurved
4) Corolla somewhat longer than the calyx, pink.
Tending to grow in moister habitats than Trifolium scabrum and more common in
W Greece.
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