Trifolium squamosum, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1981, Flora Europaea. Volume 2. Rosaceae to Umbelliferae, Cambridge University Press : 171

93. T. squamosum L. , Amoen. Acad. 4: 105 (1759)

( T. maritimum Hudson ).

Annual; stems 10-40 cm, procumbent or erect, hairy or glabrescent. Upper leaflets 10-20x6-8 mm, narrowly obovate-cuneate or oblong, often apiculate. Stipules linear, the free herbaceous part longer than the rest. Fruiting heads 10-20 mm, ovoid; peduncles up to 20 mm. Fruiting calyx tough, with a campanulate tube, glabrous or thinly hairy above, the 10 veins and furrows disappearing below the dilated mouth; teeth lanceolate-acuminate, spreading, herbaceous, the lowest distinctly 3-veined and equalling the tube, the other four 1- or 3-veined, about I as long as the tube. Corolla 5-7 mm, pale pink, exceeding the calyx. Legume included. Damp, grassy places especially near the sea. Mediterranean region and W. Europe, northwards to England. Al Az BI Br Co Cr Ga G r Hs It Ju Lu Sa Si Tu. Moderately variable in habit, size of the parts and indumentum. T. xatardii DC. in Lam. & DC., Fl. Fr. ed. 3, 5: 558 (1815), from S.W. France, has the calyx-tube sparsely hairy to near the base and the lowest calyx-tooth sometimes barely longer than the others, but is probably not clearly distinct from 93. T. cinctum DC. , Cat. Pl. Horti Monsp. 152 (1813), from the coasts of Jugoslavia and Albania, has heads subtended by a 6- or 7-fid bractei- form involucre; it may merit subspecific rank.