Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Brandegee's Clover
Trifolium brandegeei
Pea family (Fabaceae)

Hikers eyes are arrested by these hot, iridescent, satin pink flowers drooping from leafless stalks. Leaves are in threes along the ground with the leafless flower standing straight above them. Plants often in showy, spreading clumps. "Brandegei" honors Townshend Brandegee, botanist with the Hayden Survey of 1875; he published "The Flora of Southwestern Colorado" in 1876 as part of the Hayden Survey report. Brandegee was the first to collect Trifolium brandegei (in 1874). Brandegee described it as "a very showy species, common in the Sierra La Plata."


©2004 Al Schneider

Description

plants with woody branching roots, 2-5" tall, and . or very sparingly hairy. long. to over 1" long, about 6-15 in a loose head, , on stout which lift the head well above the leaves. green or purple. 1/2 to almost 1" long, iridescent rose purple. a pod 2-7 seeded.

Field Marks

Short, but straight flower stem supports hot satin pink cluster of drooping flowers.

© Al Schneider

A peduncle is a common stalk of a cluster of flowers.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

caespitose -- Grass (or plants) growing in small dense clumps or tufts.

reflexed -- bent sharply back or down.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.

acaulescent -- a plant that has no apparent stem, or at least none visible above ground.

stalk -- The supporting structure of an organ. Examples of stalks are stem, peduncle, petiole, ...

petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

leaflets -- Each little leaf-like thing in a compound leaf is a leaflet.