OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Trifolium pratense   FAMILY Fabaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Trifolium pratense   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Trifolium pratense

SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)

Trifolium pratense

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-14-005:

Trifolium pratense   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Trifolium pratense

 

COMMON NAME:
Red Clover


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_trpr2_001_lvd

        

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide    pnd_trpr2_005_lvd

        

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm190425_7772

April    Greenville County    SC

Flowers are tiny, pink, sessile, and borne in a round head 1" across, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm0205b_09a

May    Greenville County    SC

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm140525_204b

May    Henderson County    NC

Petals 1.2-1.8cm long, with the standard longer than wings or keel, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm190518_8433

May    Greenville County    SC

The color of these particular flowers was intense.

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm190518_8435

May    Greenville County    SC

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm190518_8479

May    Greenville County    SC

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

Roxanna Martin    rlm51008_153

May    Spartanburg County    SC

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

Roxanna Martin    rlm5810_198

May    Spartanburg County    SC

Short-lived perennial with numerous appressed-hairy stems, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm120626_301

June    Greenville County    SC

Heads subtended by enlarged stipules and/or opposite or subopposite leaves, per Weakley's Flora.

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm120626_303

June    Greenville County    SC

Lanceolate to elliptical leaflets, each with a prominent pale green "V", per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE leaves that are trifoliolate and palmately compound

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm120626_305

June    Greenville County    SC

Stems numerous, glabrous or more commonly pilose to villous, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm150607_278

June    McDowell County?    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm150607_280

June    McDowell County?    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm120703_414

July    Greenville County    SC

Its flowers are actually rose-purple (occasionally white) [not red], per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm120703_414b

July    Greenville County    SC

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm120703_422

July    Greenville County    SC

Stems numerous from crown, erect or ascending, stout, per Flora of North America.

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

Roxanna Martin    rlm71610_227

July    Spartanburg County    SC

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

Roxanna Martin    rlm71909_166

July    Spartanburg County    SC

Legume ovoid-oblong, circumscissile, 1-seeded, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Trifolium pratense, Red Clover

JK Marlow    jkm060813_128

August    Haywood County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

Probably the best-known clover of the southern mountains, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Trifolium pratense   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Trifolium pratense   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Trifolium pratense

SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Trifolium pratense

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-14-005:
Trifolium pratense   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Trifolium pratense

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

1539

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Fields, roadsides, disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora

Non-native: Europe

Common (uncommon in GA Coastal Plain)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.


Invasive?

This plant may be causing problems in natural areas outside its native range, according to authorities such as:

 

LEAVES:
Palmately compound: 3 leaflets
Mostly alternate
Stipules conspicuous, persistent, & adnate to the petiole

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Pink, purplish
Bilaterally symmetrical
5-parted papilionaceous corolla
Superior ovary

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Legume

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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