Trifolium buckwestiorum

Santa cruz clover, Santa Cruz Clover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1

Santa cruz clover is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native annual found in southwestern San Francisco Bay bioregion in Mendocino, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties, inhabiting grassy or disturbed areas at elevations below 710 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces pale pink or white flowers in compact heads 8 to 12 millimeters wide with darker colored keel. Growing with decumbent to ascending stems, it forms delicate low-spreading plants. Its leaves have three leaflets, each 0.5 to 1.5 centimeters long, elliptic to obovate with fine serrated edges and distinctive stipules featuring multiple bristle-tipped teeth. The flower's calyx tube is 4 to 5 millimeters long with inconspicuous lateral teeth and a small bristle at its tip.

Habitat: Grassy or disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: < 710 m

Bioregions: sw SnFrB (Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Cruz cos.).

California counties: Santa Cruz, Monterey, Mendocino, Sonoma, San Mateo, Santa Clara

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