red clover

Red clover is an exotic perennial forb. It is native to Northern Africa, Europe, and Western Asia. It was widely introduced for agricultural use, has escaped cultivation, and is now widely naturalized in North America.

Red clover rises on multiple stems from a taproot with rhizomes.

The stems are light green, hairy, and branching. They can be nearly erect, ascending, or reclining on the ground with just the tip ascending.

The leaves are alternate and compound, divided into 3 leaflets. The lower leaves are on long, hairy leaf stalks. The upper leaves are on short stalks or on no stalks at all. The leaflets are lance-shaped or egg-shaped, hairless, ⅜″ to 1⅛″ long, and ¼″ to ⅔″ wide. The margins are finely-toothed or untoothed. The upper leaf surface is silky-hairy and has a pale V-shaped marking.

The inflorescence is several dense, globular, head-like clusters at the end of the stems. The flower heads are ½″ to 1⅛″ tall and about 1″ across. Each head has up to 25 to 80 flowers. There are usually 1 to 3 stalkless leaflets immediately below the flower head.

The flowers are pea-like, with 5 petals organized into a banner, 2 wings, and a keel formed by two petals fused together at the tip. The banner is longer than the wings and the keel. The individual flowers are stalkless. The petals are magenta to pink to nearly white, but never red. They gradually turn darker pink to rose as they age.

The fruit is a seed pod containing 1 or 2 seeds.

1′ to 2½′

Magenta to pink to nearly white, but never red

Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) stems are hairless or nearly hairless. The leaflets have no markings on the upper surface and are not indented or pointed at the tip. The petals are pale pink to pinkish-white.

Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum ssp. incarnatum) stems are more hairy. The leaflets have no markings on the upper surface. The petals are crimson red.

White clover (Trifolium repens ssp. repens) is a much smaller plant, 4″ to 10″ tall. The stems are creeping and they root at the nodes. Flowers and leaves are borne on separate stalks. The leaflets have have a pale, crescent-shaped, not V-shaped, marking on the upper surface. The petals are white or white tinted with pink.

Disturbed sites

May to September

Red clover is an important forage crop. It has been cultivated since the third and fourth centuries.

Red clover is the state flower of Vermont.

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 22, 28, 29, 30.

Native to Northern Africa, Europe, and Western Asia. Introduced and naturalized.

Very common and widespread

At least eleven varieties or subspecies (infraspecies) of red clover have been described based on habits, calyces, stipules, and patterns of pubescence. In North American populations there is much intergradation, making determining the variety of some individual plants difficult or impossible.

The following infraspecies are currently recognized by at least one highly respected taxonomic source. No source accepts all of them. Some North American sources do not recognize any infraspecies.

Habitat

Plant

Plant

Inflorescence

Inflorescence

Inflorescence

Flowers

Leaves

Leaves

Red Clover
Wez Smith

Trifolium pratense
Matt Lavin

Red Clover
Andree Reno Sanborn

Trifolium pratense RED CLOVER
Frank Mayfield

Trifolium pratense (with translation text)
martaprat93

Red Clover (Trifolium Pratense) - 2012-05-05
W3stlander

Alfredo Colon
6/20/2024

Location: Albany, NY