Hedgehog clover
| Hedgehog clover | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Trifolium echinatum | ||||||||||||
| M.Bieb. |
Hedgehog clover ( Trifolium echinatum ) is a species of plant from the genus Klee ( Trifolium ). It is placed in the genus in the Trifolium section , Echinata subsection .
description
The hedgehog Clover is a one-year , herbaceous plant achieved the stature heights between 10 and 50 centimeters. The stem axis is densely hairy and widely branched, at least in the upper part. It is erect, ascending or lying down.
The leaves are alternate, but the uppermost are opposite. The leaves are dreifedrig, the individual pinna between 0.8 and 2.5 inches long and 0.4 to 1.5 inches wide. The spreads are linear to broadly elliptical and tapering at both ends or, conversely, egg-shaped with a tapered base. The leaf margin is not indented or very finely indented. You are hairy. The leaf tips are blunt, pointed or incised. The stipules are cuticle-like with dark longitudinal ribs. The free part of the stipules is as long or longer than the fused part. The overgrown part is elongated and slender, the free part triangular to sickle-shaped and long hairy.
The inflorescences are axially stalked or terminal. They are 1 to 2.3 inches long and between 1 and 2 inches wide. The shape is broadly ovoid or vice versa. When the fruit is ripe, the inflorescence becomes spherical, contracts and is prickly. The calyx is green and in the lower part tubular and ten-nerved. The calyx tube is cylindrical to inverted ovoid and hairy in the upper part. The calyx teeth are unequal. They are sickle-shaped with a purple tip. The lower calyx teeth are long hairy and two to three times longer than the upper ones. During the ripening of the fruit, the calyx tubes of the individual flowers grow together at the base and with the inflorescence axis. The calyx tube thickens like a bell and becomes soft or leathery, the hair falls off and the calyx teeth stand up. The neck is closed by two hairy thickenings.
The crown is cream-colored, sometimes with a purple point on the boats , or pink and very rarely purple. The flag is 1.5 times longer than the shuttle and wing.
The solitary legumes are cuticle-like and inverted ovate with a sharp point. The seeds are about 3 millimeters long and brown in color. They are spherical and shiny.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16.
distribution
Hedgehog clover is native to clearings, in thickets at roadsides, river banks and in the ruderal flora. The distribution area extends from Central Europe (Hungary) to Asia Minor. Natural occurrences can also be found in Libya.
ecology
Hedgehog clover is self-pollinating . After the fruit ripens, the fruit remains closed and does not fall at all until the plant disintegrates, this spreading strategy is called aestatiphoria .
literature
- Michael Zohary, David Heller: The Genus Trifolium . The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities , Jerusalem 1984, ISBN 978-965-208-056-1 , pp. 500 f .
- John M. Gillett, Norman L. Taylor, M. Gillett: The World of Clovers . Iowa State University Press , Ames 2001, ISBN 978-0-8138-2986-9 .