Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

LOW HOP-CLOVER

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Trifolium campestre Schreb.

Johnson County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-16 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September

Also Called:

Plains clover.

Stems:

Erect, ascending or decumbent, usually much branched, 4 to 16 inches long, finely pubescent to nearly glabrous.

Leaves:

Alternate, stalked, pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets egg-shaped to oblong or oblanceolate, 1/4 to 3/5 inch long, glabrous to sparsely soft-hairy; margin usually minutely toothed above middle; tip rounded or notched; stalk of middle leaflet longer than stalks of lateral leaflets.

Inflorescences:

Head, spherical to short-cylindric, 1/3 to 2/5 inch in diameter; flowers 20-40.

Flowers:

Papilionaceous, 1/8 to 1/5 inch long; calyx strongly 2-lipped, glabrous; petals yellow, becoming brown; banner conspicuously lined, much exceeding wings; stamens 10.

Fruits:

Pod, 1-seeded; seed 1/20 inch long, yellowish, smooth, shiny.

Habitat:

Open pastures, waste areas, open woods, fallow fields, lawns, roadsides; rocky or sandy soils.

Distribution:

East 2/5 of Kansas.

Origin:

Native of Eurasia. Introduced as a pasture plant and now naturalized.

Forage Value:

Can provide late winter and early spring forage.

Comments:

Low hop clover is sometimes sown for forage and soil improvement.