Caucasian clover
| Caucasian clover | ||||||||||||
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Caucasian clover ( Trifolium ambiguum ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Trifolium ambiguum | ||||||||||||
| M.Bieb. |
Caucasian clover ( Trifolium ambiguum ) is a species of plant from the genus Klee ( Trifolium ). It is assigned to the Lotoidea section .
description
The Caucasian clover is a perennial , herbaceous plant that reaches heights of up to 60 centimeters. The stem axis is bald or slightly hairy and branches directly at the base into several stems, these are prostrate or ascending. The plants form rhizomes .
The leaves are long stalked, the upper ones shorter. The leaves are dreifedrig, the individual pinna between 1 and 3.5 inches long and 0.6 to 2 inches wide. The blades are inversely ovate to broadly elliptical. The leaf margin is serrated, at least on the upper leaves, and the tip is rounded. The leaf veins stand out clearly. The stipules are broadly ovate and pale in color.
The inflorescences are single or in pairs. They are 2 to 4 inches long and between 1 and 2 inches wide. The shape is broadly ovoid to almost spherical, when the fruit is ripe the inflorescence is elongated. The flower stalks are between 4 and 10 centimeters long. The calyx is between 4 and 5 millimeters high and whitish. The crown is initially whitish and then turns flesh-colored. The flag is egg-shaped and significantly longer than the shuttle and wings.
The legume is ellipsoidal and about 3 millimeters long. Each pod bears one or two seeds . The seeds are between 1.6 and 2 millimeters in size and brown in color.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16. Some lines are also polyploid with 2n = 32 or 2n = 48 chromosomes.
distribution
Caucasian clover is native to scree fields, on the edges of forests and on sandy areas by rivers. The distribution area originally included Romania, southern Russia, Iraq and Iran. However, through intensive cultivation of the species it was able to spread over all of Eastern Europe, Australia and the United States.
use
Caucasian clover is intensively cultivated as fodder , especially in Eastern Europe . It is also used to a significant extent in the United States and Australia. Trifolium repens × ambiguum from white clover and Caucasian clover is also grown .
literature
- Michael Zohary, David Heller: The Genus Trifolium . The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities , Jerusalem 1984, ISBN 978-965-208-056-1 , pp. 215 .
- John M. Gillett, Norman L. Taylor, M. Gillett: The World of Clovers . Iowa State University Press , Ames 2001, ISBN 978-0-8138-2986-9 , pp. 20th f .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ MT Abberton: Interspecific hybridization in the genus Trifolium . In: Plant Breeding . tape 126 , no. 4 , 2007, p. 337-342 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1439-0523.2007.01374.x .