Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Trifolium subterraneum
Common name
Subterranean clover
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Grassy areas, often in lawns, and disturbed sites. Widespread.
Notes
Introduced prostrate or sprawling annual herb, stems to 35 cm long, usually less than 0.2 m tall. Calyx teeth blunt. Stems sparsely hairy or almost hairless. Leaves alternating along the stems, compound, with 3 leaflets, each 0.4-2.5 cm long, 0.4-25 mm wide, appressed hairy on both surfaces, tips notched, margins of the upper parts of the leaves with minute teeth; stipules leafy. Flower heads globular to top-shaped, about 10 mm long, with 2-8 flowers that form seeds and several sterile flowers. Sterile flowers reduced to rigid calyces with spreading teeth. Individual flowers white, often with pink stripes, 8-14 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel. Flowers mainly Sep.–Jan. Seeding heads bend down and penetrate the ground.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Trifolium~subterraneum (accessed 3 May 2021)
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