LOW HOP-CLOVER
File Size: 41 KB
 
Trifolium campestre  Schreb.
Johnson County, Kansas
Annual
Height: 4-16 inches
Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July, August, September
Also Called: Plains clover.
Stems: Erect, ascending or decumbent, usually much branched, 4 to 16 inches long, finely pubescent to nearly glabrous.
Leaves: Alternate, stalked, pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets egg-shaped to oblong or oblanceolate, 1/4 to 3/5 inch long, glabrous to sparsely soft-hairy; margin usually minutely toothed above middle; tip rounded or notched; stalk of middle leaflet longer than stalks of lateral leaflets.
Inflorescences: Head, spherical to short-cylindric, 1/3 to 2/5 inch in diameter; flowers 20-40.
Flowers: Papilionaceous, 1/8 to 1/5 inch long; calyx strongly 2-lipped, glabrous; petals yellow, becoming brown; banner conspicuously lined, much exceeding wings; stamens 10.
Fruits: Pod, 1-seeded; seed 1/20 inch long, yellowish, smooth, shiny.
Habitat: Open pastures, waste areas, open woods, fallow fields, lawns, roadsides; rocky or sandy soils.
Distribution: East 2/5 of Kansas.
Origin: Native of Eurasia. Introduced as a pasture plant and now naturalized.
Forage Value: Can provide late winter and early spring forage.
Comments: Low hop clover is sometimes sown for forage and soil improvement.

Low hop-clover inflorescence
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Johnson County, Kansas
Low hop-clover leaves
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Johnson County, Kansas
Low hop-clover
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Johnson County, Kansas
Low hop-clover
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Johnson County, Kansas
Low hop-clover
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Johnson County, Kansas
Low hop-clover
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Johnson County, Kansas
Low hop-clover
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Brown County, Kansas
Low hop-clover
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Brown County, Kansas