White clover
September 4, 2015
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EmailTrifolium repens L.
Life cycle
Mat-forming perennial.
Leaves
Alternate, compound with three stalkless, egg-shaped leaflets. Leaflets are smooth with small teeth along the margins, a slight notch at the tip and usually a whitish V-shaped watermark. Trifoliolate leaves are found on long petioles that arise perpendicular to the prostrate stems.
Trifoliolate leaf of white clover.
Stems
Plants spread by prostrate, creeping stolons that root at the nodes and are generally smooth.
White clover stolon.
Flowers and fruit
White or pinkish white, globe-shaped flower heads occur at the ends of long flower stalks. Each head may contain up to 85 individual flowers. Fruit are small, three- to six-seeded pods.
Reproduction
Seeds and stolons.
Similar weeds
Red clover (T. pratense L.) Differs by having a more robust size and upright growth, red to purple flower heads, and larger, usually hairy trifoliolate leaves.
Red clover flower head (left). Trifoliolate leaf of red clover (right).
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