White prairie-clover

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White prairie-clover inflorescence

White prairie-clover leaf

White prairie-clover inflorescence

White prairie-clover leaf

White prairie-clover inflorescence

White prairie-clover

White prairie-clover

White prairie-clover habit

White prairie-clover habit

White prairie-clover leaf

Morphology

Stem

Erect or widely spreading, 1 to several, slender, straight, simple or sparingly branched above, glabrous, ribbed, sometimes glandular-dotted.

Leaves

Alternate, short-stalked or nearly sessile, odd-pinnately compound, .75 to 2.5 inches long, .5 to 1 inch wide; leaflets 5-13, elliptic to oblanceolate, .25 to 1.5 inch long, glabrous, minutely glandular-dotted below; tips usually sharp-pointed.

Inflorescence

Spikes, cylindric, 1 to 3 inches long, about 1/2 inch thick, densely flowered, terminal.

Flower

Calyces 5-toothed, 10-ribbed, glabrous or pubescent; corollas papilionaceous, less than 1/4 inch long, white; banner petals erect, larger than wing and keel petals; stamens 5, filaments united.

Fruit

Pods, oval, less than 1/5 inch long, glandular, protruding from persistent calyces, 1-seeded.

Ecology

Habitat

Prairies, rocky hillsides, roadsides, waste places, and open, rocky woods.

Distribution

Principally east 2/3 of Kansas.

Practical Information

Forage Value

White prairie-clover is readily grazed by livestock and will disappear in overgrazed areas.

Uses

Native Americans steeped dried leaves in water to make a tea, used the leaves to create medicine applied to wounds, and chewed the sweet-tasting roots.

Additional Notes