Trifolium squamosumL.

sea clover

WFO wfo-0000213082 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Trifolium squamosum, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. a Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-25 / obs. 138835292
Trifolium squamosum, photographed by Santiago Martín-Bravo
fig. b Santiago Martín-Bravo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 120814375
Trifolium squamosum, photographed by Julien Renoult
fig. c Julien Renoult, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 18307083
Trifolium squamosum, photographed by Thomas Koffel
fig. d Thomas Koffel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 7568003
Trifolium squamosum, photographed by Ivo Rosa
fig. e Ivo Rosa, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189732877
Trifolium squamosum, photographed by hecklemore
fig. f hecklemore, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191042138
Trifolium squamosum, photographed by Ivo Rosa
fig. g Ivo Rosa, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183689219
Trifolium squamosum, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. h Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183316979

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 28 botanical countries

Regions where Trifolium squamosum is native: Algeria, Azores, Canary Is., Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Tunisia, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Baleares, Bulgaria, Corse, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaLibyaMoroccoTunisiaEast Aegean Is.IranLebanon-SyriaTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaBulgariaCorseFranceGreeceItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalSiciliaSpainTürkiye-in-Europe AzoresCanary Is.MadeiraBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Trifolium squamosum, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Baleares BAL
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
France FRA
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Azores AZO
Canary Is. CNY
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
East Aegean Is. EAI ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. 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 23 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.

  • Trifolium albidum Steven ex Ledeb.
  • Trifolium baeticum Lag. ex DC.
  • Trifolium cinctum DC.
  • Trifolium clypeatum Lapeyr.
  • Trifolium commutatum Ledeb.
  • Trifolium glabellum C.Presl
  • Trifolium glabrum J.Gay ex Nyman
  • Trifolium irregulare Pourr.
  • Trifolium maritimum Huds.
  • Trifolium maritimum subsp. cinctum (DC.) Gibelli & Belli
  • Trifolium maritimum subsp. nigrocinctum (Boiss. & Orph.) Nyman
  • Trifolium maritimum subsp. xatardii (DC.) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Trifolium maritimum subvar. bastardianum Pérez Lara
  • Trifolium maritimum var. irregulare (Pourr.) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Trifolium maritimum var. moriferum Lojac.
  • Trifolium maritimum var. nigrocinctum (Boiss. & Orph.) Boiss.
  • Trifolium nigrocinctum Boiss. & Orph.
  • Trifolium pratense var. baeticum (Lag. ex DC.) C.Vicioso
  • Trifolium rigidum Savi
  • Trifolium squamosum subsp. xatardii (DC.) O.Bolòs & Vigo
  • Trifolium stipulaceum Lapeyr.
  • Trifolium succinctum Vis.
  • Trifolium xatardii DC.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.