Trifolium incarnatum L.

Crimson Clover

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Crimson Clover is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It is native to Europe. Crimson Clover can be found throughout Alabama. It occurs on roadsides, in fields, in pastures, in lawns, and in other open sunny sites. It is an annual with a tap root. Stems are erect, 1-2 feet in height, green in color, branched from the base, and short appressed pubescent to pilose. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, and palmately trifoliate. The leaflets are obovate to orbicular in outline, toothed above the middle, and slightly pubescent. Flowers are produced in cylindrical to ovoid heads on long peduncles from the axils of the upper leaves. The calyx is tubular, villous, and 5 lobed. The lobes are nearly equal. The corolla is scarlet, bright red, or rarely white in color. The standard (upper petal) is conspicuously longer than the other petals. The fruit is an ovoid 1-seeded legume. Crimson Clover is a larval food plant for the Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly (Cupido comyntas). It is widely planted for forage, hay, and green manure. It is also used as a winter cover crop and for erosion control. Crimson Clover is also a common component of some wildflower seed mixtures.—A. Diamond

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Not Native

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