Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Red Clover is a common introduced and naturalized plant of fields and roadsides.

Stem: Plant height is usually around one foot but some varieties can reach to 30 inches. Unlike the White Clover, Red Clover is usually an erect plant with a hairy stem, sometimes branching.

Leaves: Red Clover has alternate leaves divided into 3-part leaflets that, on the long-stalked larger lower leaves, have a blunt oval shape; a more lance-like shape on the upper leaves, which are stalkless or with short stalks; all leaves with hairy edges and without teeth. On each leaflet you will see a chevron like design that is a paler shade of green, sometimes even white. The smallest leaves are usually directly under the round flower head, where you will also find several green bracts with prominent darker veining. Leaves have very conspicuous stipules sometimes with dark green and sometimes with contrasting purple veining.

The inflorescence is a solitary flower that can arise from the leaf axils and on the stem tip.

Flowers: The flower head is stalkless above the bracts and is a cluster of 27 to 30 stemless tube shaped, 5-petaled magenta flowers that open outward in all directions. The corolla is much longer than the calyx with the 5 petals arranged in pea-like fashion with the largest petal being the standard, or banner, above the others in an erect position with the tip of the lobe notched, 2 lateral petals projecting forward and enclosing the 2 keel petals, hidden within which are the reproductive parts. The upper petal, the standard, is the longest and widest and shows best the delicate veining in a deeper color. Occasionally you may find a white flower. The short green calyx of each flower has 5 long pointed teeth.

Habitat: Red Clover grows from a taproot as a biennial or a short-lived perennial. It was introduced to the United States for livestock food and it's primary use is for hay and silage. As a cover crop it is used for soil improvement as it is a member of the pea family of nitrogen fixing legumes. It is self-sterile and requires pollination by insects, mainly bumblebees as the nectaries are at the bottom of the flower tube. However, it is a source of nectar and pollen for many other bees and butterflies. It usually blooms later than White Clover.

Names: The genus, Trifolium, means three leaves and refers to the 3-parted leaf. The species, pratense, means 'of the meadows' - the plants typical habitat. The author name for the plant classification, 'L.' is for Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist and the developer of the binomial nomenclature of modern taxonomy.

Comparisons: For comparison purposes, the White Clover, T. repens, is smaller and less erect, whereas the Yellow and White Sweet Clover, Melilotus officinalis, are tall and branching.