Hare's-foot clover
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| Trifolium arvense L. |
Hare's-foot clover is a common name for the plant Trifolium arvense. It may also be known as Haresfoot clover, Rabbitfoot clover, Stone clover, or Oldfield clover. This species of clover is native to most of Europe (except for the arctic zone) and western Asia, in plain or mid-mountain habitats up to 1600 m altitude. It grows in dry sandy soils, both acidic and alkaline, typically found at the edge of fields, in wastelands, at the side of roads, on sand dunes, and opportunistically in vineyards and orchards when they are not irrigated.
It is a small erect herbaceous annual, or sometimes biennial plant, growing to 10-40 cm tall. Like all clovers, it has leaves divided into three sessile leaflets, which are slender, 1-2 cm long and 3-5 mm broad, and sometimes edged with small hairs and finely serrated. The leaves have a pair of stipules at the base, often tipped in red. The flowers are grouped in a dense inflorescence 2-3 cm long and 1-1.5 cm broad; each flower is 4-5 mm long, rosy white in colour, and especially characterised by the many silky white hairs which tip the five calyces, which are much larger than the corollas. These hairs, along with the more or less oblong form of the inflorescence, are the inspiration for the common name. Pollination is carried out by bees, or via autogamy, since the plant is hermaphroditic, and the flowering season is from mid-spring to late summer. The fruit is a small pod containing a single seed.
[edit] Cultivation and uses
Like most legumes, it fixes nitrogen, making it valued on low fertility soils for the benefit it gives to other crop species in supplying nitrogen. It is also grazed by sheep and goats.
It has been introduced to North America, where it is an invasive species in some areas.
[edit] References
- Flore des Hautes-Alpes (French)
- HYPPA (French)
