Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

WHITE CLOVER

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Trifolium repens L.

Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 2-8+ inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

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

Also Called:

Ladino clover, dutch clover.

Stems:

Prostrate, creeping, rooting at nodes, glabrous to slightly pubescent; often forms mats.

Leaves:

Alternate, palmately 3-foliolate on stalks 2 to 8 inches long; leaflets broadly elliptic to egg-shaped or nearly heart-shaped, .4 to 1.5 long, .2 to .8 inch wide; surfaces mostly glabrous, often with pale V-shaped spot on upper surface; margins finely toothed; tip rounded to notched; stipules thin, pale, 1/8 to 2/5 inch long, at base of leaf stalk.

Inflorescences:

Head, nearly spherical, .4 to 1.2 inch in diameter, 40-90 flowered, terminal on stalks 2 to 8 inches long.

Flowers:

Individual flowers on short stalks; calyx 5-toothed, 10-nerved, glabrous; teeth narrowly triangular, unequal; corolla papilionaceous, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, white or pinkish, turning brown; banner longer than wings and keel; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free.

Fruits:

Pod, oblong-linear, 1/6 to 1/5 inch long, 2-4 seeded; seeds small, heart-shaped, yellowish.

Habitat:

Lawns, waste places, fields, pastures, disturbed areas, stream valleys, roadsides; clay or silt soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas

Origin:

Introduced. Native in Europe and Asia, naturalized in North America.

Reproduction:

Seeds and stolons

Toxicity:

White clover can cause bloat in livestock but death is extremely rare.

Forage Value:

Excellent forage value and high palatability, but produces low yields. Upland game birds, wild turkeys, and small mammals consume the leaves and grouse eat the seeds.

Uses:

Native Americans steeped the dried leaves and took the tea to treat colds and coughs and steeped the flowers and used the liquid as an eyewash.

Comments:

White clover adds nitrogen to the soil. It is often used as a nectar source in the production of honey.

See red clover

White clover