Trifolium repens
Trifolium carolinianum
Dutch clover, trèfle blanc, white clover
Carolina clover
creeping, branched, rooting at nodes.
prostrate, ascending, or erect, branched.
palmate;
stipules lanceolate, 0.9–1.3 cm, margins entire, apex short-subulate;
petiole 5–20 cm;
petiolules to 1 mm;
leaflets 3, blades obovate, obcordate, or orbiculate, 0.6–4 × 0.4–2.5 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately prominent, margins serrulate distally, apex rounded, emarginate, or retuse, surfaces glabrous.
palmate;
stipules ovate, 0.6–1 cm, margins entire or serrate, apex acuminate;
petiole 2–5 cm;
petiolules 1 mm;
leaflets 3, blades obovate, 0.6–1.4 × 0.3–1.1 cm, base cuneate, veins moderately thickened, margins denticulate, apex rounded, sometimes retuse, surfaces glabrous except on veins abaxially.
axillary, 20–40+-flowered, globose, 1.5–3.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm;
involucres absent.
axillary or terminal, 5–40-flowered, globose, 1–2 × 1–2 cm;
involucres minute.
erect, from prostrate stems, 1.5–30 cm.
± geniculate proximal to flowers, inflorescence appearing sideways or inverted, 3.5–10 cm.
strongly reflexed in fruit, elongate, 3–5 mm;
bracteoles white, lanceolate, 1–2 mm.
reflexed, 2–3 mm;
bracteoles ovate or lanceolate, 0.5 mm.
8–13 mm;
calyx campanulate, 3–5 mm, glabrous, veins 6–10, tube 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes unequal to subequal, adaxial shorter than tube, triangular-lanceolate, orifice open;
corolla white, often pinkish in age, 4–12 mm, banner ovate-lanceolate or oblong, 4–12 × 1–4 mm, apex rounded.
4.5–7 mm;
calyx usually pink to magenta, campanulate, bilabiate, 3–4 mm, pilose, veins 5, slightly branched in lobes, tube 0.8–1 mm, lobes unequal, abaxial 3 lanceolate or linear, 0.8–1 mm, villous, adaxial 2 broadly triangular, 2.5–3 mm, orifice open;
corolla creamy white, often pink-tinged, darkening in age, 4–4.5 mm, banner broadly ovate-rhombic, 4–4.5 × 3.8–4 mm, apex rounded, slightly erose.
linear-oblong, 4–5 mm.
oblong, 3–4 mm.
3 or 4, yellow, reddish brown, or light brown, ovoid-reniform, 1 mm, smooth, glossy.
2–4, yellow-brown to brown, globose to mitten-shaped, 1.1–1.6 mm, rugose.
= 16, 28, 32, 48, 64.
= 16.
Trifolium repens
Trifolium carolinianum
Trifolium repens may very well be the most important temperate pasture plant (M. J. Baker and W. M. Williams 1987) and has been considered the most important perennial pasture plant in North America (C. V. Piper 1924). It was introduced at least as early as the mid 1800s (R. N. Mack 2003) and spread so rapidly that it became known to Native Americans as White Man’s Foot Grass (W. Strickland 1801). It is morphologically diverse; most material from the flora area represents var. repens, but some specimens fit within the circumscriptions given by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984) of var. giganteum Lagrèze-Fossat, with inflorescences to 3.5 cm diameter and leaflets nearly 4 cm; others have smaller, pale-pink petals with hairy petioles and pedicels, and approach var. biasolettii (Steudel & Hochstetter) Ascherson & Graebner (T. occidentale Coombe).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Trifolium arvense Walter (1788), a later homonym of T. arvense Linnaeus (1753), was considered a synonym of T. carolinianum by M. Zohary and D. Heller (1984). Trifolium repens Walter (1788, not Linnaeus 1753) is likely also a synonym of T. carolinianum. The record of the species from Vermont is a waif.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
LA Plants, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, 
SW CO Wildflowers, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
