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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Red & White (Clover)


Sorry, couldn't resist another set that just appeared in my life this week.

These are just common (and alien in the US) clovers. The white clover, Trifolium repens, is smaller, with the flower about 3/4 inch wide, sometimes tinged with pink.

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The red clover, Trifolium pratense, is larger. The fuzzy blooms are rounder, and may be over an inch across. The leaves are large, with those odd white chevrons on them.

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"Trifolium" is an easy genus to remember because clovers have three (tri) leaves (folium). There are lots of clovers!



10 comments:

Rick (Ratty) said...

It's an odd thought, but I never considered clover to be a flower until I got interested in nature. Now I recognize flowers in many different plants.

Duxbury Ramblers said...

Use to be commonly used as a feed crop for animals over here, I can tell you they prefer T.pratense over repens, I think the flowers are sweeter tasting.

Secondary Roads said...

Both grow around here. I like to see them.

vanilla said...

Nice photos. I need a better camera-- or a better eye?

john bain said...

The bee's love clover.

RNSANE said...

They are so pretty in a field. I guess they seed themselves and keep coming back forever.

Ann said...

This is another flower that I have great success with in my yard :)

Lin said...

We have a little bunny in the 'hood that would love to meet up with that clover!

Ferd said...

LOL @ Ann.

Beauty in even the simplest and most common of things!

Sharkbytes said...

Ratty- if it's not a conifer or fern or fungi (or a couple other primitive things), it's a flowering plant and it has a flower of some kind!

Carol- Oh, that's its real use here too, but both have escaped to everywhere.

Chuck- They are really so common that I doubt most people stop to look.

vanilla- well, my camera does get some nice pix, but it isn't as good as some of the blogger friends, particularly John of Wiseacre Gardens

John- they sure do! And the honey they make from it is very clear tasting.

Carmen- Yes... no getting rid of clover easily if you don't want it.

Ann- don't we all!

Lin- I have several! But there seems to be plenty of clover, they prefer my garden flowers.

Ferd- There really is! Almost everyone knows clover, but when you look closely they are amazing.