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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

While my pasta water was boiling for lunch, I went to the bible, the 
Jepsen Manual of Higher Plants of California.  It has nearly any Oregon 
species that would be found here (I can't name any counterexamples).  Of 
the many species of Trifolium, the vast majority are annuals, and of the 
perennials, fully 4/5 are alpine, including T. macrocephalum, which 
starts at 650 m. elevation.  You see, this just reflects the fact that 
our dry West is not exactly the crucible of evolution for perennial 
clovers, as predicted.

On the other hand, the European cover crops and New Zealand white clover 
are hardly the perfect crops for the West either.  Nearly every legume 
you're likely to find being sold, except bird's-foot trefoil , red 
clover, and subterranean clover, is a right water hog.  So Monsanto and 
all the other evil powers have abundant reason to hope that one of our 
native clovers could even be less thirsty and lime-loving than their 
European counterparts.

There are only three low-elevation native perennial clovers in Cali:

T. eriocephalum (> 300 m.)
T. breweri (> 200 m.)
T. wormskioldii (found at sea level)

Strictly speaking, this last one is the only candidate, and it has 
considerable, although ambiguous, cultivation instructions in Sunset 
Western Garden Book notation.  It sounds like another water hog.  But T. 
breweri sounds promising, since the habitat info mentions dry areas.  
But as I say, there's usually a catch, and for us it's the fact that the 
most drought-tolerant plants tend to be those that can't survive the 
winter in our wet clay soil.

The government-corporate complex is also selling this 
neo-environmentalism to hunting rights groups.  My ultra-conservative 
NRA buddy Milton one day started repeating some BS he heard at one of 
the weed fanatics' indoctrination seminars about how non-native 
invasives are threatening to cut off the food supply for Bambi, and it's 
taken quite a bit a explanation to show him that this is just the libs' 
latest wacky attempt to kiss some ass.

As for gathering seed from the wild, it sounds like a great fantasy, 
with an indian maiden by my side, but alas, it's not to be.  I'm darn 
sure it's against the law to gather any seed on National Forest land, 
and didn't I hear that the BLM recently adopted the same set of rules?  
Besides, for positive ID, you have to show up once when the flowers are 
open, and again right before they dehisce.  I'm pretty certain they can 
be found for sale somewhere.

Bill
S. Oregon coast