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Home  /  Plants  /  Budburst Species  /  Trifolium repens
Phenology Observation Sheet for Wildflowers and Herbs

COMMON NAME

white clover

SCIENTIFIC NAME

Trifolium repens

ALSO KNOWN AS

Dutch clover

Plant family

Pea (Fabaceae)

Plant group

Wildflowers and Herbs

White clover is a common low-growing European perennial herbaceous species that has been introduced across the entirety of North America and Hawaii.
282 reports
171+
OBSERVERS
282+
OBSERVATIONS
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Identification hints

White clover can be distinguished from other clovers by its white flowers, three leaflets with rounded tips, more than 5 flowers per stem, and its creeping habit.
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Did you know?

Trifolium repens, like other members of the pea family, fix nitrogen (a limiting factor in plant growth). This makes clover an important agricultural and rangeland plant-by planting it with grasses it is possible to increase the grass yield. Clover leaves and flowers are also good forage for wildlife, such as moose, grizzly bear, white-tailed deer, and blue grouse. Clover is used widely by bees to produce honey.
DISTRIBUTION IN TH U.S.
Alaska , Alabama , Arkansas , Arizona , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Iowa , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Massachusetts , Maryland , Maine , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Mississippi , Montana , North Carolina , North Dakota , Nebraska , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , Nevada , New York , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Virginia , Vermont , Washington , Wisconsin , West Virginia , Wyoming
HABITAT
White clover grows in a wide range of habitats, from lawns, to sidewalk cracks, to shaded woodlands to open meadows. White clover thrives in a wide variety of growing conditions which is partially why it is found all over North America.
ATTRIBUTES
Leaves
Leaves of white clover look like, other clovers, are palmately divided into three symmetrical teardrop-shaped leaflets. Each leaflet is about 1/2 inch in diameter and is often banded with a crescent of white coloration. The edges of the leaflets are finely toothed.
Flowers
White clover flowers are small, white to creamy pinkish, and pea-shaped, grouped in terminal inflorescences that are 1/2 in wide.
Fruits
White clover flowers eventually form small, brown seedpods typical of the pea family (Fabaceae). Each pod contains several seeds.
Bloom Time
White clover blooms from spring to fall depending on location.

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