E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Trifolium arvense L.
hare's-foot clover (rabbitfoot clover)
Fabaceae (Pea family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Jamie Fenneman  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #7536)

E-Flora BC Static Map
Distribution of Trifolium arvense
Click here to view our interactive map and legend
Details about map content are available here
Click on the map dots to view record details.

Species Information

Click on the image below to view an expanded illustration for this species.



General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems 1 to several, erect, 10-40 cm tall, freely branched, hairy.
Leaves:
Alternate, palmately compound; leaflets 3, linear-oblanceolate, 8-25 mm long; stipules narrowly egg-shaped, joined to the leaf-stalks, narrow-margined but extending into free bristle-tips 5-10 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, egg-shaped to cylindric, axillary or terminal head, 5-25 mm long, of many pea-like flowers, the heads soft-hairy and lacking an involucre; corollas white to pale pink, 4-6 mm long; calyces about 1-1/2 times as long as the corollas, strongly stiff-hairy to feathery, the needle-like teeth twice as long as the tube.
Fruits:
Pods, membranous, about 1.5 mm long; seeds 1.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Mesic to dry roadsides, fields and waste places in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; infrequent in extreme S BC; introduced from Eurasia.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Trifolium arvense

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Minimum

Average

Maximum

Elevation (metres) 500 924 1205
Slope Gradient (%) 5 19 65
Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]
80 128 320
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
2 3 4
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
C
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:
5
Modal BEC Zone Class
IDF
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in: BWBS(1), ICH(1), IDF(3)

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Trifolium arvense var. arvense
Trifolium arvense var. perpusillum DC.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References