Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Hare's-foot Clover
Trifolium arvense
- Family: Pea Family – Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
- Growing form: Annual herb.
- Height: 10–30 cm (4–12 in.). Stem erect, branched, hairy, somewhat reddish.
- Flower: Corolla irregular (zygomorphic), 4–6 mm (0.2–0.3 in.). White to reddish petals 5: the upstanding the ‘standard’, the lateral 2 the ‘wings’, the lower 2 united to form the ‘keel’, overall shape of corolla being butterfly-like. Sepals 5, united, silkily-hairy, calyx-lobes long- and slender-pointed. Stamens 10. A single carpel. Inflorescence an egg-shaped head, up to 25 mm (1 in.) long.
- Leaves: Alternate, trifoliolate, leaflets narrowly elliptic, toothed, 0.6–2 cm (0.25–0.8 in.) long. Stipules united with the petiole.
- Fruit: An indehiscent legume enclosed within the calyx.
- Habitat: Dry meadows, rock outcrops, roadsides, field margins.
- Flowering time: June–July.
The hare’s-foot clover is an erect, slender, grey-hairy annual. In Finland it is an archaeophyte. Its calyx is clearly longer than the corolla. This species has benefited from human disturbance, and its distribution seems to be associated with habitation of the middle ages. The plant has been used as a medicinal herb for treating both human and animal ailments.
The hare’s-foot clover typically grows in glades of hillside woods. In Finland it also occurs as a so called ballast plant, and along railways as a casual alien. The hare’s-foot clover is a regionally endangered species.
