Trifolium wormskioldii

Cow clover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Cow clover is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, central and southern coastal California, Peninsular Ranges, and eastern Sierra Nevada in beaches, mountain meadows, and open moist places at elevations up to 3,200 meters. Flowering from May to October, this plant produces pink-purple to magenta flowers with white tips in dense 2 to 3 centimeter wide heads. Growing with decumbent or ascending stems that form clumps or spread via rhizomes, it reaches moderate heights with a clustered growth habit. Its leaves typically feature 1 to 3 centimeter leaflets ranging from narrowly elliptic to widely ovate, with lower leaf stipules ending in bristle-like tips. The plant's distinctive flower heads have many wheel-shaped segments with calyx lobes that taper to bristled tips.

Habitat: Beaches to mountain meadows, ridges, generally open moist or marshy places

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: < 3200 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, SnJV, CW, SCo, PR, SNE

California counties: Humboldt, Placer, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, San Bernardino, Plumas, Kern, Riverside, Mono, Inyo, Los Angeles, Tulare, Butte, Santa Barbara, Lassen, Monterey, Del Norte, Sonoma, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Nevada, San Mateo, Madera, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Lake, Marin, Tuolumne, Sutter, Ventura, Modoc, Santa Clara, San Benito, Amador, San Francisco, Orange, Trinity, Sierra, Tehama, Alpine, Calaveras, Yuba, Contra Costa, Shasta, Glenn, Colusa, Napa, Alameda, Mariposa, El Dorado, Solano, Sacramento

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