White clover

White clover (Trifolium repens) grows in grassy places throughout the British Isles, including our lawn, as the photo shows!

Once established in a lawn it is extremely difficult to remove, because the plant spreads by sending out stems from which roots grow down into the soil. The rootstock can be very persistent and survive for many years even if the surface plants have been removed.

It is a ground-hugging plant that has hairless three-branched leaves, each leaflet bearing a whitish band towards the base. The white flowers are borne on upright stems between June and September. Dead flowers fold over the hanging seed pods.

White clover is also not welcome on pasture land, because the leaves often contain a chemical that yields prussic acid when eaten by animals. On the other hand, this chemical gives white clover an unpleasant taste, so it is usually avoided by grazers.

However, white clover is much prized by bee-keepers because its flowers provide a steady flow of nectar after other plants such as dandelions have ceased flowering. This nectar is held deep within the petals so only long-tongued insects such as bees can reach it.

At the end of its flowering period a white clover plant may retain one flowering stem when all the rest have died off and produced seed. Traditionally, such sole flowers are known as “old maids”.

© John Welford