Trifolium variegatum Nutt.
white-tipped clover (whitetip clover)
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
white-tipped clover (whitetip clover)
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems 1 to several, decumbent to erect, glabrous, 10-60 cm long/tall.
Leaves:
Alternate, palmately compound; leaflets 3, heart- or egg-shaped to oblanceolate, 5-20 mm long, the margins finely bristle-toothed; stipules egg-shaped, the upper deeply cut.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, head-like cluster of 3 to 5 pea-like flowers, the heads 1-2 cm wide, on stalks longer than the leaves, set in wheel-like, irregularly lobed and jaggedly toothed involucres; corollas purple with white tips and brown with age, 5-10 mm long; calyces slightly shorter than the corollas, the tube narrowly bell-shaped, 10- to 25-veined, the teeth longer than the tube, awl-shaped and bristle-tipped.
Fruits:
Pods, usually rupturing the calyx when mature; seeds 1 to 2.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Trifolium variegatum
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
213 | 213 | 213 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
41 | 15 | 60 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
166 | 60 | 210 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
1 | 0 | 2 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
|||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
19 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
|||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
|||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Vernally moist to dry, often sandy, fields, grassy meadows, roadsides, ditches and clearings in the lowland zone; locally frequent in SW BC, rare in SC BC; S to MT, UT and CA.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Trifolium appendiculatum Loja.
Trifolium dianthum
Trifolium geminiflorum Greene
Trifolium melananthum Hook. & Arn.
Trifolium polyodon Greene
Trifolium trilobatum Jeps.
Trifolium variegatum var. major Loja.
Trifolium variegatum var. melananthum (Hook. & Arn.) Greene
Trifolium variegatum var. rostratum (Greene) C.L. Hitchc.
Trifolium variegatum var. trilobatum (Jepson) McDermott