Trifolium depauperatum var. depauperatum

Dwarf sack clover, Dwarf Sack Clover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Dwarf sack clover is a California native annual found in the North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range Foothills, northern and central Sierra Nevada, Great Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area in wet meadows, grasslands, and roadsides at elevations below 900 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces tiny, delicate flowers with pale white to pink petals clustered in compact, rounded heads. Growing with slender stems 5 to 15 centimeters tall, it forms low-spreading clumps in moist, heavy soils. Its leaves have three small leaflets that are occasionally notched or slightly lobed at the tips, creating a delicate, lacy appearance. The fruit develops slightly longer than the flower's style, with a short stalk-like base supporting two to four small seeds.

Habitat: Wet meadows, grassland, roadsides, open spring-moist, heavy soils

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 900 m

Bioregions: NCoR, CaRF, n&ampc SN, GV, SnFrB

California counties: San Joaquin, Butte, Calaveras, Placer, Sacramento, Tehama, Shasta, Colusa, Plumas, Sonoma, Nevada, Sutter, Mendocino, Yuba, Merced, Napa, Tuolumne, Fresno, Humboldt, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Stanislaus, Amador, Madera, Alameda, Marin, Lake, San Mateo, Solano, Siskiyou, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Modoc, Mariposa, Yolo, El Dorado, Monterey

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