PEA FAMILY 295 



Greene, Proc. Acad. Phila. 47:547 (1896), type loc. Lake Merritt, Oakland, Chesnut. T. appen- 

 diculatum f. rostratum McDer. I.e. 92, pi. 33 ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. ed. 2, 224 (1911). 



8. T. variegatum Nutt. White-tip Clover. Stems slender, often several 

 from the base and freely branching, decumbent or ascending, i^ to 2 feet high; 

 herbage strictly glabrous; stipules ovate, laciuiately toothed; leaflets commonly 

 obovate, sometimes oblong-oblanceolate, very small to large (2 to 7 lines long) ; 

 peduncles slender ; heads irregularly subglobose, 3 to 6 lines broad, few to many- 

 flowered; involucre much smaller, 4 to 12-lobed, the lobes 3 to 7-toothed; flowers 

 small; corolla purple, white-tipped or purple throughout; calyx 5 to 20-nerved, its 

 teeth subulate-setaceous, often purple, simple or one tooth bifid; pods 1 or 2-seeded. 



Low or moist places, 20 to 4000 feet : widely distributed and common through- 

 out cismontane California; rare east of the Sierran crests. North to British Co- 

 lumbia. Apr. -May. 



Distributional note. — Trifolium variegatum is one of the five most abundant clovers in 

 California, and grows in a wide variety of hill, valley and plains country. It is somewhat variable 

 and in so extensive a range it is probable that a considerable number of local forms will, in time, 

 be defined. In the South Coast Ranges from Santa Cruz Co. to San Luis Obispo Co. Ave often 

 find plants with reflexed stipules. Such plants may in some cases belong to the species, in other 

 cases to the varieties pauciflorum or melananthum. In their reflexed stipules these plants recall 

 T. tridentatum var. polyodon Jepson, but the plants in question have entire calyx-teeth, whereas 

 the latter form has dentate calyx-teeth. 



On account of the edibility and abundance of Trifolium variegatum its green herbage was 

 an important food resource for the Pomo and other native tribes. In Ukiali Valley, it is called 

 Sour Clover. 



Loes. — Coastal S. Cal. : Mesa Grande, San Diego Co., E. Ferguson 88 ; Palm Canon of San 

 Ysidro, Jepson 8803 ; Palomar, Jepson 1521 ; Hemet Valley, San Jacinto Mts., Clary 977 ; High- 

 land, San Bernardino Valley, Parish 2290. Mohave Desert: Providence Mts., Munz 4020. Coast 

 Eanges: San Luis Obispo Valley, Summers (stipules reflexed); Stanford, C. F. BaTcer; Mt. 

 Diablo, Jepson 13,711; Fish Eanch, Berkeley Hills, Jepson 13,707; Alderney, Marin Co., Jepson 

 8275; Guerneville, E. Ferguson 240; Yountville, Napa Valley, Jepson 13,706; Calistoga, Jepson 

 9177; Willits, Mendocino Co., Jepson 2482, 2487; SherAvood Valley, Mendocino Co., Jepson 

 1845; Eureka, Tracy 2963; Paskenta, sw. Tehama Co., Jepson 16,325. Great Valley: Merced, 

 J. T. Eowell 4171; Vacaville, Jepson 13,741; Oroville, Heller 10,734. Sierra Nevada: Fresno 

 Flats, Madera Co., Jepson 12,838; Angels Camp, Calaveras Co., Jepson 10,428; Folsom, ne. 

 Sacramento Co., Jepson 15,746; Honey Lake Valley, Davy 3361; Morleys sta., se. Shasta Co., 

 BaTcer 4" Nutting. 



Var. pauciflorum McDer. Dwarf, caespitose or the stems short and slender (1 to 6 inches 

 long); leaflets very small; heads 1 to 7-flowered, small (2 to 3 lines long); corolla purplish; 

 involucre 1 to 4-lobed, the lobes 3 to 5-toothed. — Valleys and mountains, 200 to 7500 feet. 



Locs. — Mesa Grande, San Diego Co., E. Ferguson 113; Vandeventer, Santa Rosa Mts., 

 Jepson 1427; Santa Ana River, San Bernardino Valley, Parish 1880; Rock Creek, San Gabriel 

 Mts., Peirson 2417; Pacific Grove, Heller 6722 (stipules somewhat reflexed) ; St. Helena, Jepson 

 6235; Quartz Valley, Siskiyou Co., Butler 378; Snow Creek trail, Yosemite, Jepson 4384; 

 Willows Sprs. sta., n. Amador Co., Jepson 15,235 ; Hot Sprs. Valley, Lassen Peak, Jepson 4075a. 



Var. trilobatum Jepson. Slender, 4 to 8 inches high, sparsely branched at the base ; margin 

 of stipules laciniate; petioles slender, 1% to 2 inches long; leaflets lanceolate, acute at each end 

 or often remarkably trilobate at apex ; heads on long slender peduncles ; lobes of involucre deeply 

 and laciniately toothed; flowers long; corolla dark purple, cream-color at the tips; calyx teeth 

 slender, acute, generally purple-tinted. — Marysville Buttes. 



Var. melananthum Greene. Leaflets large, oblanceolate to oblong or obovate, obtuse, % 

 to 1 inch long; heads % to 1% inches broad, large-flowered, showy; involucres small; cah-x-teeth 

 pungent and purple-tipped. — Low valleys or montane valleys, 10 to 6000 feet: widely distributed. 



Locs. — Coast Ranges: Santa Margarita, Jepson 11,967; Pacific Grove, Tidestrom; West 

 Berkeley, Jepsoji 13,709. Tehachapi Mts.: Tehachapi, He^er 7821. Sierra Nevada: Table Mt., 

 Fresno Co., Jepson 15,118; Guadalupe Mts., Mariposa Co., Jepson 10,732; Mt. Bullion, Mariposa 

 Co., Jepson 10,720; Dry Creek hills, n. of lone, Jepson 15,224; Penn Valley, Nevada Co., Jepson 

 13,710; Oroville, SeZZer 11,236. 



Refs. — Trifolium variegatum Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. 1:317 (1838), type loc. Willamette River, 

 Ore., Nuttall; McDer. N. Am. Sp. Trifolium 63, pis. 21, 22 (1910) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 308 

 (1901), ed. 2, 224 (1911), Man. 539 (1925). Var. pauciflorum McDer. I.e. 67, pis. 23, 24; 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. ed. 2, 225 (1911), Man. 539. T. pauciflorum Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. 1:319 



