Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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Trifolium subterraneum
Subterranean clover
Fabaceae
Grassy areas, often in lawns, and disturbed sites. Widespread.
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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