Red Clover

Fabaceae

LIFE FORM: Perennial

NATIVITY: Europe

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

A mat-forming plant with creeping, branched stems; leaves consisting of 3 rounded leaflets, each with a distinctive light "V" shaped mark.

FLOWERS:

Pink to magenta flowers in dense, globose clusters bloom from May through October.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

The persistant species reproduces readily from seed as well as from rhizomes that root at their nodes.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Can grow in many different types of soil, and is tolerant of mowing. Prefers trampled lawns in public parks; neglected residential and commercial landscapes; minimally maintained public parks and open space; vacant lots and rubble dump sites; abandoned grasslands (meadows); unmowed highway banks and median strips with frequent salt applications.

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Disturbance-adapted colonizer.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

A nitrogen-fixing species that is widely used as a cover crop to condition soil and for forage for livestock; a tea made from the flowers is used as a blood purifier.