Trifolium repens L.
white clover
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
white clover
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a slender taproot; stems branching from the base, creeping to erect, often rooting at the nodes, often mat-forming as a pioneer, 10-60 cm long, glabrous or sparsely hairy.
Leaves:
Alternate or clustered, palmately compound, the leaf-stalks longer than the leaflets; leaflets 3, egg-shaped, rounded with a notch at the tip, 1-2.5 cm long, often with a pale blotch, fine-toothed; stipules 3-10 mm long, joined for most of their length, white-membranous, pointy-tipped.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, globe-shaped, axillary head, 1.5-2.5 cm wide, of numerous, spreading to nodding, pea-like flowers, the heads on long (to 30 cm) stalks, lacking involucres; corollas creamy white to pinkish, 5-10 mm long; calyces glabrous, 1/2 the length of the corollas, the tube bell-shaped and white with green veins, the narrowly lanceolate, pointy-tipped teeth shorter than to as long as the tube.
Fruits:
Pods, oblong, about 5 mm long; seeds 1 to 4.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Trifolium repens
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)
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 |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
986 | 2 | 2128 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
8 | 0 | 230 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
142 | 0 | 355 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
4 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
317 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
IDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BG(4), BWBS(5), CDF(1), CWH(9), ESSF(6), ICH(14), IDF(156), MS(39), PP(6), SBPS(10), SBS(24) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Mesic to dry roadsides, fields, lawns, meadows and waste places in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common in BC S of 55o N, rare northward; introduced from Eurasia.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Trifolium repens var. atropurpureum hort.