Trifolium tomentosum L.
A hairless or almost hairless annual. Stems branching from the base, erect or decumbent, 5 to 20 cm long. Leaves trifoliate; petioles up to 6 cm long. Leaflets obovate, finely toothed, 3 to 15 mm long. Stipules papery, long-pointed. Inflorescence axillary, spherical, 5 to 12 mm across, many-flowered; subtended by a narrow papery involucre formed by fused bracts. Peduncles shorter than the leaves, 5 to 20 mm long. Flowers sessile, 3 to 5 mm long, pink, longer than the calyx. Flowers are twisted so that the standard points downwards and the keel upwards. Calyx two-lipped, the upper lip becoming inflated and membranous in fruit and ending in two short teeth which are virtually hidden by the white-woolly hairs that cover the calyx. The whole fruiting head can reach 15 mm diameter, becoming globular.
Local: Common in Gibraltar. Found from North Front, throughout the Upper Rock, and southern parts.
Global: Found throughout the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands.
Flowers from (March) April, May to June.
Grows on dry open ground, fields and waysides.