About Trifolium macrocephalum (Pursh) Poir.
Trifolium macrocephalum (Pursh) Poir. is an upright, rhizomatous perennial herb with hairy herbage. Its leaves are theoretically composed of 3 leaflets, but most often have 5 to 9 thick oval leaflets. Each leaflet can reach up to 2.5 centimeters in length, has short teeth along its margins, and often bears a pale transverse mark. The inflorescence is a crowded egg-shaped cluster up to 5 or 6 centimeters long. Each flower has a calyx of sepals with lobes that narrow into bristles covered in long woolly hairs. The flower corolla can measure nearly 3 centimeters long, is pink to lavender in color, and is sometimes bicolored. This species blooms in early spring. As both its scientific Latin name and common name indicate, its flower head is unusually large for a clover. Trifolium macrocephalum is native to the Great Basin region of the western United States, ranging from Washington to northern California, and from Nevada to Idaho. It grows in multiple habitat types including sagebrush scrub, juniper woodland, yellow pine forest, and mountain woodlands, and it prefers thin-soiled, rocky areas.
