Trifolium hirtum leaf1 ST (15492087879)

Description:

Description: Introduced, cool season, annual, hairy, semi-erect legume. Leaves are trifolioliate, each leaflet being round with a pale watermark edged with brown. Stipules are narrow, ending in a point. Flowerheads are pink, golbular, and hairy; maturing to produce a yellow oval pod containing a single seed. Germinates in autumn and flowers in spring. Best suited to wet winters and dry summers of southern and central NSW. Tolerant to a wide range of soils, it produces significant dry matter even in low fertility areas. It is more tolerant of acid soils that medics. Produces most growth in spring, which is good quality in the vegetative phase, but quickly loses quality and palatability during and following flowering. Has the ability to fix nitrogen. Does not cause infertility in sheep. Doesn’t perform well under set stocking, requiring rest periods, especially during flowering when heavy grazing will reduce seed set. Grazing needs to sufficiently heavy to prevent grasses out-competing it. Regeneration from seed is unreliable, even though it produces large quantities of seed and has a high proportion of hard seed. Date: 10 October 2014, 14:34. Source: Trifolium hirtum leaf1 ST. Author: Harry Rose from South West Rocks, Australia.