Trifolium depauperatum (cowbag clover)

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by Drew Meyer — fig. a Drew Meyer, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-20 / obs. 200911483

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by Ellyne Geurts — fig. b Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 195274192

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by paulexcoff — fig. c paulexcoff, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 194819775

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon — fig. d Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186339964

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by Dutza K. — fig. e Dutza K., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 185471150

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by Amelia Tauber — fig. f Amelia Tauber, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184423055

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by Arvel Hernandez — fig. g Arvel Hernandez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 118818270

Trifolium depauperatum, photographed by joergmlpts — fig. h joergmlpts, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 118190805

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 8 botanical countries

Native distribution of Trifolium depauperatum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.

Region	TDWG code	Continent
British Columbia	BRC	NORTHERN AMERICA
California	CAL
Mexican Pacific Is.	MXI
Mexico Northwest	MXN
Oregon	ORE
Washington	WAS
Chile Central	CLC	SOUTHERN AMERICA
Peru	PER

Not drawn on the map: Mexican Pacific Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 28 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

Lupinaster depauperatus C.Presl
Trifolium amplectens Torr. & A.Gray
Trifolium amplectens Greene
Trifolium amplectens var. diversifolium (Nutt.) Jeps.
Trifolium amplectens var. stenophyllum (Nutt.) Jeps.
Trifolium amplectens var. truncatum (Greene) Jeps.
Trifolium anodon Greene
Trifolium brachyodon Greene
Trifolium decodon Greene
Trifolium depauperatum f. franciscanum (Greene) McDermott
Trifolium depauperatum f. laciniatum (Greene) McDermott
Trifolium depauperatum f. lacinifolium McDermott
Trifolium depauperatum f. truncatum (Greene) McDermott
Trifolium depauperatum var. angustatum (Greene) Jeps.
Trifolium depauperatum var. diversifolium (Nutt.) McDermott
Trifolium depauperatum var. laciniatum (Greene) Jeps.
Trifolium depauperatum var. stenophyllum (Nutt.) McDermott
Trifolium diversifolium Nutt.
Trifolium franciscanum Greene
Trifolium franciscanum var. truncatum Greene
Trifolium laciniatum Greene
Trifolium laciniatum var. angustatum Greene
Trifolium lineare Greene
Trifolium minutiflorum Greene

and 4 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.