Dictionary:

clover

  (klō'vər)

1. Any of various herbs of the genus Trifolium in the pea family, having trifoliolate leaves and dense heads of small flowers and including species grown for forage, for erosion control, and as a source of nectar for honeybees.
2. Any of several other plants in the pea family, such as bush clover and sweet clover.
3. Any of several nonleguminous plants, such as owl's clover and water clover.

in clover

1. Living a carefree life of ease, comfort, or prosperity.

[Middle English, from Old English clāfre.]

A common name used loosely to designate the true clovers, sweet clovers, and other members of the plant family Leguminosa.

True clovers

The true clovers are herbaceous annual or perennial plants of the genus Trifolium, order Rosales. There are approximately 250 species in the world. Collectively they represent the most important genus of forage legumes in agriculture. Most clovers are highly palatable and nutritious to livestock. The name clover is often applied to members of legume genera other than Trifolium. See also Rosales.

Clovers are used for hay, pasture, silage, and soil improvement. Certain kinds may be used for all purposes whereas others, because of their low growth, are best suited for grazing. All kinds, when well grown in thick stands, are good for soil improvement. Thoroughly inoculated plants add 50–200 lb of nitrogen per acre (62–252 kg per hectare) when plowed under for soil improvement, the amount added depending on growth, thickness of stand, and length of growing season. See also Nitrogen cycle.

All the clover species of agricultural importance in the United States are introduced (exotic) plants. Some of the species most widely used are: red clover (T. pratense), alsike clover (T. hybridum), white clover (T. repens), crimson clover (T. incarnatum), subclover (T. subterraneum), strawberry clover (T. fragiferum), persian clover (T. resupinatum), and large hop clover (T. campestre, or procumbens). Other clovers of regional importance, mostly adapted to specific environmental conditions, are rose clover (T. hirtum), berseem clover (T. alexandrinum), ball clover (T. nigrescens), lappa clover (T. lappaceum), big-flower clover (T. michelianum), and arrowleaf clover (T. vesiculosum).

Red clover is composed of two forms, medium and mammoth, producing two and one hay cuts, respectively. The large purplish-red flower heads are round. An upright-growing perennial, red clover generally persists for 2 years in the northern United States, but behaves as a winter annual in the South. There are several varieties and strains of red clover such as Kenland, Pennscott, Lakeland, Dollard, and Chesapeake. These produce higher yields of forage and are more persistent than common red clover.

Alsike clover is an upright-growing species that behaves like a biennial. The growth pattern, seeding methods, mixtures, and uses are similar to those of red clover. The flower heads are much like those of white clover in shape and size, but are slightly more pinkish. Alsike clover is more tolerant of wet, poorly drained soils than red clover and occurs widely in mountain meadows of the West.

White clover, an inhabitant of lawns and closely grazed pastures, is the most important pasture legume in the humid states. The flowers are generally white, but sometimes they are tinged with pink. There are three main types, large, intermediate, and small, with all gradations between. All types are nutritious and are relished by all classes of livestock and poultry. White clover is mainly grown with low-growing grasses, not being tolerant of the tall-growing kinds. For best growth of the clover, grass-clover mixtures should be grazed or cut frequently.

Crimson clover is used principally as a winter annual for pasture and as a soil-improving crop from the latitude of the Ohio River southward, and along the West Coast. Crimson clover is seeded alone, with small grains and grasses, or on grass turf. During the winter it may be grazed, although if it is too heavily grazed, regrowth is slow. The greatest return for soil improvement is obtained when the largest growth is plowed under. There are several varieties of crimson clover, including Dixie, Auburn, Autauga, Chief, Talladega, and many local strains. When used with Bermuda or other perennial summer-growing grasses, the fall growth of the grass must be closely grazed or clipped.

Subclover, a winter annual extensively used for grazing in the coastal sections of the Western states, is the basic pasture crop of the sheep and cattle industry of Australia. The Australian varieties Mount Barker, Tallarook, and Nangeela have proved to be best adapted to most conditions in the United States. Subclover appears to have considerable promise as a pasture legume under many conditions in the southern United States, but better adapted varieties are needed.

Sweet clover

Sweet clover is the common name for all but one species of legumes of the genus Melilotus, order Rosales. The exception is sour clover (M. indica). There are approximately 20 species of sweet clover. Some of the biennial species have an annual form. Sweet clovers are native to the Mediterranean region and adjacent countries, but several are widely scattered throughout the world, generally by chance introduction.

Sweet clover is used as a field crop in regions of the United States and Canada where the rainfall is 17 in. (42 cm) or more during the growing season, where the soil is neutral, or where limestone and other needed minerals are applied. It is grown either alone or in rotations with small grains and corn, and is used for grazing, soil improvement, and hay. Except for those of certain improved varieties, the plants are somewhat bitter because of the presence of coumarin.

(click to enlarge)
Clover (Trifolium) (credit: Ken Brate — Photo Researchers)

Any legume of the genus Trifolium, composed of 300 or more annual and perennial species, found in most temperate and subtropical regions. The alternate, compound leaves usually have three toothed leaflets. The very small, fragrant flowers are crowded into dense heads. Clovers are highly palatable to livestock and high in protein, phosphorus, and calcium, thus providing valuable nourishment in the form of hay, pasture, and silage. They also improve and conserve soil by adding nitrogen and increasing the availability of other nutrients for crops that follow. The most important agricultural species are red clover (T. pratense), white clover (T. repens), and alsike clover (T. hybridum).

For more information on clover, visit Britannica.com.

The first English reference to the luck of the four-leafed clover dates from 1507: whoever finds one and keeps it reverently can know ‘for all so true as the gospell y^t he shall be ryche all his life’ (Anon., The Gospelles of Dystaues, part 2, p. xv). Others say it brings luck in love, or a long healthy life. Nowadays plants producing four-lobed leaves are commercially grown, and the leaves encased in plastic are sold as charms.

A charm reported twice from East Anglia in the 1850s involves ‘a clover of two’, i.e. a piece with only two leaves: if a girl puts one in her shoe, the next man she meets (or someone of the same name) will be her husband (N&Q 1s:6 (1852), 601; 1s:10 (1854), 321).

Members of plant family Fabaceae; essential legume component of improved and irrigated pastures, and highly adapted to haymaking. Some annuals, e.g. sweet clover, are used as forage crops. They provide a large bulk of fiber and energy and a high content of protein and calcium. They play a part in preventing hypomagnesemia in cattle on pasture. Common varieties, including species and cultivars, are: Trifolium hybridum (alsike), T. repens (ladino), T. pratense (red), T. fragiferum (strawberry), T. subterraneum (subterranean), Melilotus alba (sweet), T. repens (white).

• c. disease — see estrogenism.
• c. poisoning — clovers can cause poisoning in a number of ways. They are important in their contribution to the occurrence of ruminal tympany, of urolithiasis, and chronic copper poisoning. Individual poisonous plant species are sweet clover which contains dicoumarol, alsike clover which is reputed to be hepatoxic, and white clover, ladino, red and particularly subterranean clovers which contain estrogenic substances.
• c. stone — see clover uroliths.
• c. tree — goodia lotifolia.

clover

Clover
clover inflorescence
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Faboideae Tribe: Trifolieae Genus: Trifolium L.
Species
See text

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Trifolium

Clover (Trifolium) is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics.

They are small annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial herbaceous plants. The leaves are trifoliate (rarely 5- or 7-foliate), with stipules adnate to the leaf-stalk, and heads or dense spikes of small red, purple, white, or yellow flowers; the small, few-seeded pods are enclosed in the calyx.

Other closely related genera often called clovers include Melilotus (sweet clover) and Medicago (alfalfa or 'calvary clover'). The "shamrock" of popular iconography is sometimes considered to be young clover.

The scientific name derives from the Latin tres, "three", and folium, "leaf", so called from the characteristic form of the leaf, which has three leaflets (trifoliate); hence the popular name trefoil. Clovers are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species; see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Clovers.

Red clover (Trifolium pratense)

Selected species

Trifolium africanum Trifolium albopurpureum Trifolium alexandrinum Trifolium amabile Trifolium ambiguum Trifolium amoenum Trifolium andersonii Trifolium andinum Trifolium angustifolium Trifolium arvense Trifolium attenuatum Trifolium aureum Trifolium barbigerum Trifolium beckwithii Trifolium bejariense Trifolium bifidum Trifolium bolanderi Trifolium brandegeei Trifolium breweri Trifolium buckwestiorum Trifolium calcaricum Trifolium campestre Trifolium carolinianum Trifolium cernuum Trifolium ciliolatum Trifolium cyathiferum Trifolium dalmaticum Trifolium dasyphyllum Trifolium dedeckerae Trifolium depauperatum Trifolium dichotomum Trifolium douglasii Trifolium dubium Trifolium echinatum

Trifolium eriocephalum Trifolium fragiferum Trifolium friscanum Trifolium fucatum Trifolium glomeratum Trifolium gracilentum Trifolium gymnocarpon Trifolium haydenii Trifolium hirtum Trifolium howellii Trifolium hybridum Trifolium incarnatum Trifolium jokerstii Trifolium kingii Trifolium lappaceum Trifolium latifolium Trifolium leibergii Trifolium lemmonii Trifolium longipes Trifolium lupinaster Trifolium macraei Trifolium macrocephalum Trifolium medium Trifolium michelianum Trifolium microcephalum Trifolium microdon Trifolium minutissimum Trifolium monanthum Trifolium mucronatum Trifolium nanum Trifolium neurophyllum Trifolium nigrescens Trifolium obtusiflorum Trifolium oliganthum

Trifolium olivaceum Trifolium ornithopodioides Trifolium owyheense Trifolium parryi Trifolium pinetorum Trifolium plumosum Trifolium polymorphum Trifolium pratense Trifolium productum Trifolium purpureum Trifolium pygmaeum Trifolium reflexum Trifolium repens Trifolium resupinatum Trifolium rollinsii Trifolium rueppellianum Trifolium scabrum Trifolium semipilosum Trifolium siskiyouense Trifolium spumosum Trifolium squamosum Trifolium stoloniferum Trifolium striatum Trifolium subterraneum Trifolium suffocatum Trifolium thompsonii Trifolium tomentosum Trifolium trichocalyx Trifolium uniflorum Trifolium variegatum Trifolium vesiculosum Trifolium virginicum Trifolium willdenowii Trifolium wormskioldii

Cultivation

White Clover flower-head and leaves

Several species are extensively cultivated as fodder-plants. The most widely cultivated clovers are White clover Trifolium repens and Red clover Trifolium pratense. Clover, either sown alone or in mixture with ryegrass, has for a long time formed a staple crop for soiling, for several reasons; it grows freely, shooting up again after repeated mowings; it produces an abundant crop; it is palatable to and nutritious for livestock; it grows in a great range of soils and climates; and it is appropriate either for pasturage or green composting.

In many areas, particularly on acidic soils, clover is short-lived due a combination of insect pests, diseases and nutrient balance; this is known as "clover-sickness". When crop rotations are managed so that clover does not recur at shorter intervals than eight years, it grows with much of its pristine vigour.

"Clover sickness" in more recent times may also be linked to pollinator decline; clovers are most efficiently pollinated by bumblebees, which have declined as a result of agricultural intensification. Honeybees can also pollinate clover, and beekeepers are often in heavy demand from farmers with clover pastures. Farmers enjoy the benefits of increased reseeding that occurs with increased bee activity, which means that future clover yields remain abundant. Beekeepers benefit from the clover bloom as clover is one of the main nectar sources for honeybees.

Red Clover flowers

T. repens, White or Dutch clover, is a perennial abundant in meadows and good pastures. The flowers are white or pinkish, becoming brown and deflexed as the corolla fades. T. hybridum, Alsike or Swedish clover, is a perennial which was introduced early in the 19th century and has now become naturalized in Britain. The flowers are white or rosy, and resemble those of the last species. T. medium, meadow or zigzag clover, a perennial with straggling flexuous stems and rose-purple flowers, is of little agricultural value.

White Clover flower

Other British species are: T. arvense, Hare's-foot trefoil; found in fields and dry pastures, a soft hairy plant with minute white or pale pink flowers and feathery sepals; T. fragiferum, Strawberry clover, with densely-flowered, globose, rose-purple heads and swollen calyxes; T. procumbens, Hop trefoil, on dry pastures and roadsides, the heads of pale yellow flowers suggesting miniature hops; and the somewhat similar T. minus, common in pastures and roadsides, with smaller heads and small yellow flowers turning dark brown. The last named is often called Shamrock.

Clovers are a valuable survival food, as they are high in protein, widespread, and abundant. They are not easy to digest raw, but this can be easily fixed by boiling for 5-10 minutes. Dried flowerheads and seedpods can also be ground up into a nutritious flour and mixed with other foods. Dried flowerheads can also be steeped in hot water for a healthy, tasty tea.

Symbolism and mythology

A four-leaf clover

Shamrock, the traditional Irish symbol coined by Saint Patrick for the Holy Trinity, is commonly associated with clover, though also sometimes with Oxalis species, which also have trifoliate leaves.

Clovers occasionally have leaves with four leaflets, instead of the usual three. These four-leaf clovers, like other rarities, are considered lucky.

A common idiom is "to be in clover", meaning to be living a carefree life of ease, comfort, or prosperity.

The cloverleaf interchange is named for the resemblance to the leaves of a (four-leafed) clover when viewed from the air.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• quattrofolium [[1]]be-x-old:Канюшынаhsb:Dźećel

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kløver

idioms:

• in clover    som blommen i et æg, leve i overflod, være på den grønne gren

Nederlands (Dutch)
klaver

Français (French)
n. - trèfle

idioms:

• in clover    comme un coq en pâte

Deutsch (German)
n. - Klee

idioms:

• in clover    wie Gott in Frankreich

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (φυτολ.) τριφύλλι

idioms:

• in clover    στη χλιδή

Italiano (Italian)
trifoglio

idioms:

• in clover    nell'abbondanza

Português (Portuguese)
n. - trevo (m) (Bot.)

idioms:

• in clover    estar na boa vida

Русский (Russian)
клевер

idioms:

• in clover    лафа

Español (Spanish)
n. - trébol

idioms:

• in clover    vivir a cuerpo de rey

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - klöver

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
红花草, 苜蓿

idioms:

• in clover    生活优裕, 生活奢华

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 紅花草, 苜蓿

idioms:

• in clover    生活優裕, 生活奢華

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 클로버, 토끼풀

idioms:

• in clover    호화롭게 사는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - クローバー

idioms:

• in clover    安楽に

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) نبات يشبه البرسيم, شبندر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תלתן‬

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