Relatives

Trifolium caucasicum Tausch. - Caucasian Clover.

Taxonomic position.

Family Fabaceae Lindl., genus Trifolium L.

Synonyms.

Trifolium cassium Boiss., Trifolium marschalii Rouy, Trifolium ochroleucon Huds. subsp. caucasicum (Tausch) Kozuharov, Trifolium topczibaschevii Khalilov

Morphology and biology.

Perennial herbaceous plant. Root system with a taproot, often very branched, lateral roots longer than taproot. Stems 50-60 cm tall, straight, glabrous or pubescent in upper part, hollow and branched. Leaves ternate, mainly glabrous, unpatterned; leaf blades 1.0-3.0 cm long and 1.0-1.5 cm wide, broadly elliptic to oval. Inflorescences heads of 30-50 flowers. Corollas dirty white, pale pink, pink to almost red. Fruit a glabrous elliptic pod with 2-4 seeds. Flowers in May, fruits in June - July. Self-incompatible, cross-pollinated plant.

Distribution.

Caucasus (except high mountains), southeastern Ukraine, Crimea (forest southern part), Moldova, Rostov Region and Krasnodar Territory of Russia.

Ecology.

On slopes, in forest glades and fringes, shrubberies, open forests.

Use and economic value.

May be used as forage plant.

References:

Brezhnev DD., Korovina ON. 1981. Wild relatives of cultivated plants of the flora of the USSR. Leningrad: Kolos. 376 p. (In Russian).
Galushko AI. 1980. Flora of the North Caucasus: Handbook. V.2. 352 p. (In Russian).
Grossheim AA. 1952. Flora of Caucasus. 2nd ed. V.5. P.194-221. (In Russian).
Bobrov EG. 1945. Clover - Trifolium L. In: Shishkin BK., ed. Flora URSS. V.11. P.189-261. (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).
Roskov Y.R. et al. 2005. ILDIS World Database of Legumes. [Online] Available at: http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb?sciname=Trifolium%20caucasicum

© N.I.Dzyubenko, E.A.Dzyubenko

© Photo by E.A.Dzyubenko