In The Romanian Flora the Trifolium hirtum species was mentioned by Janca (1979) in Banat, in the Almajului Mountains, Mt. Trescovat, but it was considered dubious in our country (Nyy, 1957), being mistaken for T. diffusum. After about 138 years the presence of the Trifolium hirtum species has been confirmed in Oltenia (Cioclan and Costache, 2004). The method of research used was the observation and the collected material was examined in detail, both rough and preserved, using the binocular magnifying glass. The detailed images were taken with a digital camera provided with a magnifying device. The discovery of this species is of major importance for the flora of our country and that is the reason for its detailed description below. We present the new data about the Trifolium hirtum species in Romania, which consist in some additions to its description and in the proposal of a dichotomy key for its determination and a chorology map with its distribution in Romania. The identification of the species can be made easily by using the key of determination proposed by us, especially as we have not found one in the relevant research literature. On the other hand there are certainly other locations where the species exist and this could be the object of our future research.
Read full abstract