White Clover Trifolium repens seed

LATIN NAME: TRIFOLIUM REPENS

COMMON NAME: White Clover

The white clover carpets the low, creeping perennial with the rounded, three-parted leaves of the three leaflets, often marked with the pale chevrons, and the dense, round heads of the small, white or pinkish pea-like flowers that open through the long summer, the heads carpeting the ground, the small pods following. The plant spreads by the rooting runners and makes the dense, living mat, and it likes the sun or the light shade, and the moist, well-drained soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The nitrogen-fixing roots of the white clover give it a long place in the research on the grassland legumes of the pea family, and the repens species appears in the studies of the pasture value and the rooting-runner spread. The work looks at the way the runners carpet the ground, the bee pasture, and the seed biology. The agronomists value the pasture legume, and the growers of the living-mulch and lawn covers keep the species in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the lawn and the meadow, the white clover carpets the meadow with the white flower heads. The flowers feed the bees, the roots enrich the ground for the grass and the crops, and the plant holds the soil and serves the pasture for the ages. It grows well in the moist, well-drained, sunny or lightly shaded ground. Easy, bee-fed and soil-enriching.

To grow the White Clover from seed, scatter the seeds over the surface of the damp, fine compost, then press them in, keep the tray in the bright, cool spot and mist lightly, and the seedlings appear within a week or two.

Keep the tray in the bright, cool spot and mist lightly, and pot the seedlings on as they grow. The carpet of the clover comes within the season. Let the young plants spread over the moist, sunny ground, and the clover carpet will thicken through the season.

Uses: Culinary/Medicinal

(Dutch clover; Ladino clover) Excellent ground cover and lawn replacement suitable for sunny, well-drained locations. A nitrogen-fixing legume, it is an excellent green manure plant that will improve soil fertility and boost organic content. Few know that the leaves are edible. The young leaves picked before the flowers appear can be used raw in salads. Leaves can also be cooked like spinach. The young flowers can be used in salads too. Like red clover, the dried flowers can be used for tea. The tea has been used for coughs, colds and fever. Ht. 10cm/4in.