Relatives
Trifolium borystenicum Grun. - Dnieper Clover.
Taxonomic position.
Family Fabaceae Lindl., genus Trifolium L.Morphology and biology.
Perennial up to 40 cm tall. Plant intensely pubescent with soft spreading hairs under stem nodes and in upper part. Stipules gradually narrowed into subulate cusp. Leaflets elliptic, somewhat longer than those of red clover, rounded at apex. Corolla yellowish-white or pinkish, 11-12 mm long. Flowers in May, fruits in July. Entomophilous cross-pollinated plant.Ecology.
On steppe slopes, in alkaline meadows, among shrubberies, in river valleys. Easily tolerates flooding during spring tide, and with short term soil drought, as well as alkaline soils.Distribution.
Steppe and forest-steppe areas of European part of Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia and northeastern Kazakhstan. Endemic.Economic value.
Bringing this species under cultivation in the zone of southern steppes will allow advancement ot the culture of clover far to the south. Its characteristics are similar to red clover.References:
Brezhnev DD., Korovina ON. 1981. Wild relatives of cultivated plants of the flora of the USSR. Leningrad: Kolos. 376 p. (In Russian).Bobrov EG. 1987. Clover - Trifolium L. In: Fedorov AA., Tzvelev NN., eds. Flora of the European part of the USSR. V.6. P.195-208. (In Russian).
Bobrov EG. 1945. Clover - Trifolium L. In: Shishkin BK., ed. Flora URSS. V.11. P.189-261. (In Russian).