Transcript Clover Red (Trifolium pratense L.) Alien

Clover Red
(Trifolium pratense L.)
Alien
Family: Papilionaceae (puh-pil-ee-uh-NAY-see-ee) –
From the Latin papilio (butterfly), after the shape of
this family's flowers. It is in the pea & bean family.
Alternative Pronunciation: puh-pil-ee-uh-NAY-see-ay
Genus: Trifolium (try-FOH-lee-um) – From the Latin
tri for three and folium which means leaf, thus threeleaved.
Species: pratense (pra ten se) – Of the meadow.
Red Clover
The height is from 24 cm to 60 cm.
The fruit is a pod containing yellow or purple seeds.
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Red clover is grown for pasturage, hay and green manure. It is
considered excellent forage for livestock and poultry.
The solid extract is used in many food products including jams and
jellies.
Red clover has been written about in many histories as it is listed as a
treatment for many aliments such as asthma, athlete's foot, bronchitis,
burns, cancer, chest pain, coughing, constipation, diuretic,
expectorant, gall-bladder, gout, headache, leprosy, liver problems,
symptoms of menopause, pertussis, rheumatism and as a sedative,
skin problems, sores, spasms, syphilis and ulcers. Consult a doctor if
you are considering taking this herb for any of these ailments.
Red clover is a perennial, sometimes biennial plant in the pea family.
It can grow from 1 to 5 cm high with erect stems.
The leaves at the base have long petioles while those on the stem
have moderately long-petioles to nearly sessile. The three leaflets are
oval or elliptic and 1–3 cm long, 0.5–1.5 cm wide.
The flowers are sessile, 10–15 mm long, rosy purple to creamy-white
in colour. They grow on erect stems.
The fruit pods are oblong-ovoid with yellowish to purplish seeds.
In Altona Forest, red clover grow in open fields, forest edges and near
the paths where the soils are moist.
Clover -- Red
The leaves are green, 3
leaflets, each 2 to 5 cm long,
usually with an inverted light
green ‘V’ or chevron on the
upper surface of each leaflet.
The leaflets close up at night to
protect their sensitive surfaces
from the cold.
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Clover -- Red
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The flowers are reddish pink to purplish red, 12 to
20 mm long, in a globe-shaped clusters. The sweet
odour as well as the sweet nectar attract bees and
various butterflies.
White Clover
(Trifoliuim repens L.)
Family: Papilionaceae (puh-pil-ee-uh-NAY-see-ee) – From the
Latin papilio (butterfly), after the shape of this family's
flowers. It is in the pea & bean family. Alternative
Pronunciation: puh-pil-ee-uh-NAY-see-ay
Genus: Trifolium (try-FOH-lee-um) – From the Latin tri for three
and folium which means leaf, thus three-leaved.
Species: repens (REE-penz) – Means spreading, creeping.
Also called white Dutch clover and Dutch clover.
White Clover
White clover is in the pea family. (Leguminosae)
White clover is a perennial or biennial creeping whiteflowered perennial with prostrate stems which
roots at the nodes. It originated in Europe but has
been very successful in spreading to most
temperate and subtropical areas around the world.
Its spread has been promoted by agricultural
societies because of its usefulness as sweet
forage for cattle, horses, sheep, or goats. It is very
common in lawns, where one may sometimes find
a "lucky 4-leaved" clover.
It has the rare habit of stopping growing and fading
when warm weather starts but usually reappears
with cooler weather.
In Altona Forest it is found near the roadsides and in
almost every open field such as near the parking
lot and in the regeneration area of the north and
anywhere that grass and sedges grow..
Future location
of photo.
White Clover
The leaves are green, three (sometimes four)
leaflets of 1 to 3.5 cm in length. The leaflets are
broad leaflets have tiny teeth on edges and a pale
triangular mark appears on each leaflet.
Future location of photo.
White Clover
The hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs)
flowers are white to pale pinkish in globe-shaped clusters.
The sweet odour as well as the sweet nectar attract bees
and various butterflies. The flower has been described as
looking like a pompom. The flowers are 6 - 13 mm long, on
a long bare stem, separate from leaves.
It flowers from late May to autumn. Although the flowers can be
pinkish, and red clover's flowers can be whitish, the flowers
of the red clover always has leaves close below the
flowerhead. The calyx is hairsless.
The fruit is a pea-like pod of 4 to 5 mm in length containing 3 to
6 dull yellow to orangish brown seeds. The pods are in
clusters and brown with age. The seeds ripen from July to
October.
Future location of photo.
• A beneficial bacteria, Rhizobium trifolii, lives in symbiosis with white
clover. This bacteria takes in atmospheric nitrogen and fixes it to the
soil.
• Reproduction is done by seeds and by the prostrate stolons that root
at every node.
• There are some reports that chemicals in the plant, such as
cyanogenic glycosides and cyanogenic phenotypes can release
cyanide on contact with the enzyme linamarase.
• Some herbalists claim that the clover is wholesome and nutritious,
however, eating clover is not recommended. The young leaves,
which are cut before the flowers appear, are sometimes eaten raw in
salads or cooked as a herb in soups, or as a substitute for spinach.
The flowers have been used in salads or with seed pods were once
dried, ground into powder and used as a flour or sprinkled on cooked
foods such as boiled rice. The roots can be eaten when cooked. The
dried leaves give a vanilla flavour to cakes and cookies. Dried
flowering heads have been used as a tea substitute.
• An infusion of clover has been used in the treatment of coughs, colds
and fevers as well as an eyewash. A tincture of the leaves can be
applied as an ointment to gout.
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