(Danish: hvid-kløver, Finnish: valkoapila, Icelandic: hvítsmári, Norwegian: hvitkløver, Swedish: vitklöver.) Text by Magnus Göransson and Jens Weibull. Top photo by Magnus Göransson. 

White clover is such a common plant that it is easily forgotten, but it is important in both folklore and modern agriculture. It is a hardy species that occurs all over Fennoscandia and Iceland, except in the mountain areas. White clover was named Trifolium repens by Carl Linnaeus where the genus name refers to the three round lobes of the leaf and the species name means creeping, which refers to the growth habit.

In Nordic agriculture, we mainly use three different types of clover for leys and pastures: red clover, alsike clover and white clover. In addition to being common in our flora, white clover often appears as an introduction in grass seed mixtures and can sometimes become quite dominant in landscaped lawns. If that is a problem, it is up to yourself to decide.

Higher Protein Content

Today’s most common area of use is in pastures, where white clover is grown together with different species of grass. Like all clover species, white clover forms a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil that bind nitrogen from the air. The nitrogen benefits the white clover as well as surrounding grasses, reducing the need for nitrogen fertilization. Since organic farming does not allow artificial fertilizers, clover cultivation is a natural way to increase the nutrient content of the soil, and it is also significantly cheaper than artificial fertilizers. Furthermore, white clover adds a higher protein content to the feed than grass alone. The fact that it also seems to taste better for the animals is of course a bonus.

Because white clover grows with a creeping stem that branches and takes root, it develops a number of growth points. This makes it less sensitive to grazing than, for example, red clover, which has a taproot. A white clover plant can cover a fairly large area over time. Often it grows outwards, in the form of a ring. This is because the white clover enriches so much nitrogen over time that the grass outcompetes the clover in the oldest part of the plant.

Flower colour is usually white or possibly faint vanilla yellow, and the flowers come on long stalks that shoot up from the ground level. When the white clover blooms, you can smell it a long way, and it is then frequently visited by bees and bumblebees. The pests are normally not that serious, but mostly consist of tiny seed weevils (family Apionidae), feeding on the leaves and laying eggs in the flower heads. In case of stronger attacks, loss of seed can of course be significant.

Wide Range of Uses

Traditionally, in addition to being a fodder plant, white clover has been used both as a colour plant and as an herbal medicine. Clover leaves have been used to give wool a yellow colour, while flowers have been used to eke out flour in times of need. Tea brewed on white clover has been considered to cure coughs, inflammations, gout and rheumatism. The four-leaf mutation of white clover has a strong position in folklore as a lucky charm. Whoever finds a four-leaf clover should press it and store it well, since luck will disappear if the four-leaf clover is lost.

Nowadays, white clover varieties with deviant leaves have also been developed as ornamental plants in the garden. There are clovers with coloured leaves [image], e.g. varieties such as ’Dragon’s Blood’ and ’Dark Dancer’, as well as clovers that only produce four-leaf clovers. Whether luck also follows these leaves remains to be tested.

References:

Palmstruch, J.W. (1803–1829). Svensk botanik, 1–10. Stockholm & Uppsala.