Lesser Trefoil - Trifolium dubium

Description

Low to short, usually hairy with spreading to ascending stems. Trifoliate, leaflets oval to heart shaped, the terminal leaflet short-stalked. Flowers yellow, becoming browner with age, small 2 to 3 mm in small heads with up to 6 flowers.

Similar Species

Other Hop-trefoils (Trifolium campestre and T micranthum) and (when not in fruit) Black Medick (Medicago lupulina)

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

Standards are ridged like a roof and fold down either side of the pods, unlike Trifolium campestre. Flowers brighter and smaller than Hop Trefoil.  When not in fruit, both trefoils are similar to Black Medick in flower, but Black Medick leaves are much more hairy and have an apiculate point (i.e a short fine 'needle' from the end of the leaflet) 

Recording advice

General photo in habitat and a side-on view of flowers

Habitat

Grassy habitats on dry soils, roadside verges and waste ground.

When to see it

May to October.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Common throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 484 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Lesser Yellow Trefoil, Lesser Trefoil
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Fabales
Family:
Fabaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
213
First record:
01/07/1998 (John Mousley)
Last record:
01/07/2023 (Nicholls, David)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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