Acmispon wrangelianus

Chilean trefoil

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Chilean trefoil is a California native annual found in coastal California, including coastal bluffs and chaparral, at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces yellow flowers that turn reddish with age, typically small and delicate. Growing with prostrate stems 5 to 30 centimeters long that branch at the base, it has a spreading, low-growing habit. Its leaves are irregularly pinnate with four elliptic to obovate leaflets, each 4 to 15 millimeters long, arranged along a flattened leaf axis. The fruit is an elongated dehiscent pod 10 to 18 millimeters long with a slightly curved beak.

Habitat: Abundant. Coastal bluffs, chaparral, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, probably naturalized MP, DSon through agriculture.

California counties: Kern, San Bernardino, Ventura, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Colusa, Marin, Sonoma, San Mateo, Butte, Contra Costa, Napa, Mendocino, Placer, Tehama, Fresno, Sutter, Glenn, Merced, Yolo, Lake, San Benito, Solano, Alameda, San Luis Obispo, Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity, Humboldt, Mariposa, Santa Cruz, Monterey, El Dorado, San Diego, Tuolumne, Riverside, Orange, Santa Clara, Calaveras, Sacramento

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.