White clover

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White Clover (Trifolium repens) is a species of clover native to Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. It has been widely introduced elsewhere in the world as a pasture crop.

It is a herbaceous perennial plant. It is a low growing, with heads of whitish flowers, often with a tinge of pink or cream. The heads are generally 1.5-2 cm wide, and are at the end of 7 cm peduncles or flower stalks [1]. The leaves are trifoliolate, smooth, elliptic to egg-shaped and long-petioled. The stems function as stolons, so white clover often forms mats with the stems creeping as much as 18 cm a year, and rooting at the nodes [1].

A close-up of the flowers of White Clover

Cultivation and Uses

White clover grows in turfgrass, crops, and landscapes [1]. It is also found in a wide range of different field type environments. White clover can tolerate close mowing. It can grow on many different types and pHs of soil, but prefers clay [1].

Besides making an excellent forage crop for livestock, clovers are a valuable survival food: they are high in protein, widespread, and abundant. They are not easy to digest raw, but this can be easily fixed by boiling for 5-10 minutes [2]. Dried flowerheads and seedpods can also be ground up into a nutritious flour and mixed with other foods. Dried flowerheads also can be steeped in hot water for a healthy, tasty tea-like infusion.

Before the introduction of broad-leaf herbicides, white clover was often added to lawn seed mixes, as it is able to grow and provide green cover in poorer soils where turfgrasses do not perform well. It is now generally considered a weed when growing in lawns.

References

1) Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. Ditomaso, Weeds of The Northeast, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), Pp. 236-237.
2) Lee Allen Peterson, Edible Wild Plants, (New York City: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977), P. 56.

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