Text: Jens Weibull

Alsike is a small and unnoticed village about 20 km southeast of Uppsala, Sweden, but it has left its contribution to history through a clover species that Carolus Linnaeus found here. He called it ‘hybridum‘ because he saw it as a hybrid between red clover and white clover.

The alsike clover, just like the two other species, is perennial and looks like an equally erect, but somewhat slimmer, red clover. The flower head is typically rosy white with a clear pink base. Its distribution in the Nordic region covers all of Denmark, and the other countries up to ca 62 °N. The taxon is widespread throughout most of Europe but largely missing in France, Spain and Portugal. 

“The alsike clover is able to withstand wet conditions and is consistently more modest in terms of soil requirements than red clover,” Anders Gustaf Kellgren claimed in his book De i Sverge i stort odlade kulturväxterna (1904). “This species of clover is possibly hardier than the hardiest red clover, as well as longer lasting, but develops slower and gives full harvest only in the third year (second year ley). The feed value is rather higher than lower than the red clover, and not so variable as development proceeds. “ 

The species has been in cultivation since the 1700’s and, given its many advantages, it may seem a shame that it has not been used and improved even much more. Wider use of this indigenous genetic resource could very well pay off. Swedish seed production of alsike clover is just a fraction of that of white and red clover, the latter of which by far is the dominating fodder legume. Bearing in mind that honeybees and bumblebees are more than happy to forage on alsike clover, a more extensive cultivation of this beautiful and loveable clover species would serve our Nordic agroecosystem well.