Trifolium barbigerum
Bearded clover
Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native
Bearded clover is a California native annual found in northwestern California, northern and central Sierra Nevada, Great Valley, and central western California in wet meadows and disturbed areas at elevations generally below 700 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pink-purple to white flowers in dense heads 5 to 25 millimeters wide with distinctive bristly calyces. Growing with decumbent to erect stems that are glabrous or slightly hairy, it reaches moderate heights with a variable growth habit. Its leaves have three leaflets 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters long, oblanceolate to obovate, with conspicuous lanceolate stipules that are often sharply cut. The flower calyces feature terminal bristles 3 to 4 millimeters long, which are plumose and give the plant its distinctive "bearded" appearance.
Habitat: Wet meadows, open, disturbed areas
Bloom period: Apr-Jun
Elevation: generally < 700 m
Bioregions: NW, n&c SN, GV, CW
California counties: Humboldt, Santa Barbara, Mendocino, San Francisco, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Marin, San Mateo, Alameda, Shasta, Monterey, Solano, Tuolumne, Sacramento, Calaveras, San Luis Obispo, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Butte, Amador, El Dorado, Sierra, Yolo
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.