Flora of Israel: Trifolium glanduliferum

Trifolium glanduliferum, Trifolium nervulosum, Glandular Clover, Gland Clover,

Hebrew: תלתן בלוטי, Arabic: النفل الغدي

Scientific name:   Trifolium glanduliferum Boiss.
Synonym name:   Trifolium nervulosum Boiss. & Heldr.
Common name:   Glandular Clover, Gland Clover
Hebrew name:   תלתן בלוטי
Arabic name:   النفل الغدي
Plant Family:   Fabaceae / Papilionaceae, פרפרניים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   Up to 40 cm tall; erect or semi-erect, extensively branched; stems with glandular hairs
Leaves:   Alternate, compound, trifoliate, dentate; stipule
Flowers:   Hermaphrodite, calyx tube white, corolla pink to mauve, deepening in colour with age
Fruits / pods:   Seed pod with 130–140 oval yellow seeds
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Trifolium, Latin tri, tres, three; folium, leaf; three-leaved.

glanduliferum, bearing little glands.
nervulosum, with little veins
The Hebrew name: תלתן, taltan, clover, trefoil, from tlat (Aramaic) three; the clover is recalled in the Mishnah Kilayim 2:5, “[a field} of clover among which grew up…”

  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885),a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
  • The standard author abbreviation Heldr. is used to indicate Theodor Heinrich Hermann von Heldreich (1822 – 1902), a German botanist.