Red Clover

(Trifolium pretense)

Pea Family (Fabacea)

An uncommonly common flower is the red clover. We see this flower frequently throughout the growing season, between the snows. Clovers can be found in meadows, valleys, along roadsides and paths, and in an average backyard. Farmers plant them in their fields to harvest hay. Many animals enjoy a meal of clovers; rabbits, deer, and cows find them quite delicious. Passersby will often see moths, butterflies, and bees flying from clover to clover. And some people, ahem, even consider them a weed! But have you ever looked closely at their intricate and unique design?

At first glance clovers may be some of the most recognizable wildflowers that there are; mostly because of their leaves. Undoubtedly the stories we first heard as children of four leaf clovers bringing luck is a reason why. Plants may range in varying sizes; from a young, tiny plant no more than an inch high to two feet tall with leaves scattered in groups along the semi-creeping stem, topped by a flower blossom. Yet if you crawl down on your hands and knees, or pick one perchance, you’ll see all kinds of interesting details from the roots up.

The stem may be thin and almost a see through green during the first weeks after sprouting from the ground. The leaves top the flower then, each shaped like an elongated oval. The ends may almost come to a rounded point. The leaflets extend out in three different directions from where they join the stem. Their layout could be described as a triangle of sorts; meaning that if you put a straight line from the tip of each leaf to the next leaf tip, a triangle shape may result. Some people have also described it as heart-shaped. The leaves blend from a darker green to a light green. In the middle a large vein almost splits the leaf in half, and spreads smaller lines of veins to the edges. Halfway from the stem to the tip of the leaf is a v-shaped pale green, sometimes almost white, line. This v-shape starts on both edges and joins in the middle at the center vein, pointing towards the tip of the leaf. The shape can be described as almost like a watered down line, as if the painter had painted a fine line, then it rained, and the paint blended into the green. The leaves grow, to approximately one and a half to two inches long, and increase along the stem as it gains in height. The creeping stem may shade in various greens and sometimes with a ruddy reddish-brown toward the roots.

When in full bloom, the blossom may be a pink color, and often is a light purple shade. The entire flower head may only grow to an inch in diameter. When looking at a rabbit’s eye level, the details on the clover blossom no longer seem like one whole feature. It actually looks like a few dozen small blossoms connected together to make one larger flower. Each small petal is striped with shades of pink and purple that fade lighter, eventually to white from the tip down the tube to the center. At the center, where all these tube-like blossoms connect, is a ball of tiny yellow-green fernlike pieces that peek out between the petals.

So even if you are not a rabbit, or a cow, you might find clovers an interesting piece in the meadow. Some consider them weeds, with good reason as they are perennial and have a tendency to take over, keeping most every other flower at bay. Some admire their beauty and unique clover characteristics. One thing for certain is their ability to attract a variety of insects and animals.

Of Quills and Pens:

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