25 White Clover Facts: Things You Should Know Before You Touch One

White clover is seasonal grass.

White clover is often associated with good luck. Though the name says white it is light green.

However, white flowers can be seen. The white clover blossom and the red clover flower have certain symbolic connotations in flower language. The white clover, like the red clover, represents a promise, virility, joy, good luck, a happy and long marriage, wealth, and protection.

White clover outperforms all other legumes as the best living mulch system. It is tough, tenacious, and competitive. It creates beautiful, green paths and helps to develop soil. White clover seeds outcompete weeds, are low-maintenance and generate nitrogen. They are perfect ingredients of green manure, good for the soil.

Bumblebees and honey bees are the most common visitors to green pastures. Trifoliolate, smooth, elliptic to egg-shaped, long-petioled leaves with light or dark markings. Because the stems act as stolons, white clover frequently develops mats. The stems creep up to 7.1 in (18 cm) every year and roots at the nodes. The leaves combine to form the shamrock emblem.

White clover is almost usually trifoliolate. Four leaflets, on the other hand, are quite unusual.

White Clover Facts

Trifolium repens (also known as Dutch clover, Ladino clover, or Ladino) is a herbaceous perennial plant. This belongs to the Fabaceae bean family (previously referred to as Leguminosae).

• White clover is native to Europe, including the British Isles, and central Asia, and is one of the most extensively grown.
• It has been widely introduced as a fodder crop over the world, and it is now ubiquitous in most grassy areas.
• It has extensive use in lawns and gardens in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
• The species of Trifolium repens has variations that are frequently classified as small, moderate, and big based on height, which reflects petiole length.
• The term 'white clover' refers to the species as a whole, 'Dutch clover' refers to intermediate forms, and 'ladino clover' refers to huge varieties.
• This plant's aerial parts, leaves, flowers, stems, and seed pods are edible.
• The flower heads and leaves have a delicate, sweet flavor.
• They can be eaten fresh or preserved and stored for further use. They are good for the soil.
• The leaves and blossoms are most commonly consumed by brewing them into a delicious and calming tisane.
• The root nodules of Trifolium repens are known for their nitrogen fixation property.
• Fresh leaves are also delicious in salads, soups, and vegetable stir-fries.
• While dried leaves can impart a vanilla taste to baked items. Similarly, dried clover blossoms are excellent for flavoring baked products, jellies, and cold drinks.
• Fresh clover blossoms may be used as an edible garnish in a variety of cuisines.
• In addition, white clover plants can be used in place of red clover. While the flavors of the two plants aren't identical, they're close enough to be utilized interchangeably.
• Dried white clover petals and seeds, may be processed to generate gluten-free flour in the same way as red clover flowers can.
• White clover is lesser-known herbal medicine than its relative, red clover. It also provides less health advantages.
• However, this does not imply that white clover is ineffective as herbal medicine.
• Trifolium repens is high in vital vitamins and minerals like A, B2, B3, C, and E, as well as potassium, chromium, magnesium, and calcium.
• Because of its nutritional value, this plant is frequently utilized as a natural treatment in a variety of groups across the world.
• The white clover plant is used by Turkish, Indian, indigenous tribes and more.

White Clover's Characteristics

Trifolium repens is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is a low-growing plant with heads of white blooms, frequently with a tint of pink or cream that appears as the plant ages. The flower heads are normally 0.6–0.8 in (1.5–2 cm) broad and sit on 2.8 in (seven cm) peduncles or inflorescence stalks.

• A 12 in (30cm) spherical flower head densely packed with small white pea-shaped blooms on a three in (eight cm) long thin smooth stalk that emerges straight perpendicular to the creeping straight stems at ground level.
• The flower heads are usually held an inch or more above the dense carpet of adjacent leaf faces.
• Flowers are tiny, with an oval-lance-shaped top petal and lateral paddle-shaped wings below it that slant out widely with a little keel showing in the middle.
• Petals are white at first, then fade to a dingy pink with age.
• The hairless calyx tube that holds the bloom is greenish-white with green serrated lobes.
• The leaves are palmately compounded in threes on a one to three in (eight cm) stalk, alternately connected and perpendicular to the stem that runs along the ground.
• Leaves are roughly oval to nearly circular, approximately 12 in (30cm) in diameter, finely serrated.
• The leaves are curved at the tip and gently tapering toward the base. Frequently, but not always, with a white crescent across the center of the leaflets.
• Stems are smooth and grow horizontally on the soil surface, measuring four to 12 in (30cm) in length and roots down at the nodes.

Scary Facts About White Clover

White clover is safe to consume in less amount. However, due to its blood-thinning effect, it might increase the risk of bleeding. So, it’s best to stop consuming this herb at least two weeks before a scheduled surgery. This blood-thinning characteristic may interfere with hypertension treatments.

• Before including this plant in your diet, consult your doctor.
• Those who are allergic to clover should avoid using it.
• It should also be avoided if you are on blood clot or hypertension medication because it contains blood-thinning chemicals.
• Those who have surgery in the next two weeks should avoid white clover as well.
• White clover is generally safe to consume in moderation. It may, however, increase the risk of bleeding since it thins the blood.
• As a result, it is recommended that you stop using this herb at least two weeks before your scheduled surgery.
• This blood-thinning characteristic may interfere with hypertension treatments. Consult your doctor before including this plant in your diet.

White Clover's Uses

This plant has been used in food as well as medicines.

• Its leaves and blossoms, in addition to being a superb feed crop for animals, are valuable survival food.
• They are high in proteins and are widespread and prolific.
• For generations, freshly harvested plants have been utilized as an addition to salads and other meals containing leafy vegetables.
• They are difficult for people to stomach uncooked, however, this may be readily remedied by boiling the collected plants for 5–10 min.
• Some species were eaten uncooked by Indigenous Americans. Dried white clover flowers can be smoked as a herbal substitute for tobacco.
• Trifolium repens is used as a folk medicine in India to treat intestinal helminthic worms, and an experimental in-vivo investigation confirmed that the aerial shoots of Trifolium repens had considerable anticestodal capabilities.