Two trefoils

Lesser trefoil Trifolium dubium (top right) obligingly growing amongst slender trefoil Trifolium micranthum at Ewyas Harold Common, June 2021.

Starved plants of lesser trefoil Trifolium dubium may pose problems of identification for slender trefoil, Trifolium micranthum. The picture helps by showing the two alongside one another. Note the diagnostic longer central leaflet stalk of dubium (top arrow) and its absence in micranthum (bottom arrow). This is more reliable than flower and inflorescence size which although clearly different in the picture overlap in range.

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