Trifolium michelianum, Savi

18. T. michelianum Savi View in CoL , FI. Pis. 2: 159 (1798).

Annual; stems erect, up to 65 cm, 2-6 mm thick, fistulöse, striate, branching, often constricted at the nodes. Leaflets 10-30 mm, oblong or obovate, dentate; petioles up to 70 mm. Stipules ovate, acuminate. Heads 20-25 mm wide, globose, many-flowered, lax; peduncles equalling or exceeding the leaves; pedicels 3-6 mm, 5-10 times as long as the calyx-tube. Flowers deflexed after anthesis. Calyx c. 5 mm; teeth subequal, linear-subulate, 3-4 times as long as the tube; corolla 8-11 mm, pink. Legume obovate or orbicular, stipitate, 2-seeded, thinly pubescent; seed 2 mm. In wet meadows and by standing water, S. Europe, extending northwards to N. France. Bu Co?Cr Ga Gr Hs It Ju Lu Rm Sa Si.

Less robust plants with solid stems, shorter pedicels, and calyx-teeth only twice as long as the tube are recorded from the Balkan peninsula as T. balansae Boiss. , Diagn. Pl. Or. Nov. 3(5): 81 (1856); they may represent a distinct subspecies.