I enjoyed my recent walks so much that I wanted to document all the wildflowers that I saw. There were so many, I don’t know if I will be able to get to them all. It may help to group related plants together, and with that thought in mind, here are the four clovers that I found along the walking trail.
Have you ever wondered why it is called “red clover” when it is so obviously purple?
The place I see white clover most often is in lawns. A clover-studded lawn is a cheerful lawn. The only lawns I’ve ever seen that did not have clover in them were “chemical lawns,” green and uniformly thick with grass, but having little other life in them, and dependent on poisons to keep them that way. Let the clover grow, I say.
This is a plant I identified a few years ago. I’ve only seen it a few times, but apparently it can be invasive, so perhaps I will see it more often in the future. As I was reading about this plant, it amused me that a website about Illinois wildflowers said, “It is rather unfortunate that Rabbit-Foot Clover is not native to North America, even though it is somewhat weedy, because its flowerheads are quite cute and appealing.” Its “furry” flowers are indeed cute. It occurs to me now, though, that I have not petted them them to find out if they are as soft as they look. I should try that the next time I see this plant.
When I spotted this unfamiliar plant, I thought it might be difficult to identify given that it has a similar look to so many other flowers. But I had just read that clovers are part of the pea family, and these flowers have that distinctive pea-flower shape. My Audubon field guide describes slender bush clover as “an upright stem with compound leaves and small crowded clusters of lavender to pink pea flowers in upper leaf axils,” with leaves that are “divided into 3 narrow blunt leaflets.” This picture was taken in the right range, season, and conditions for the plant, so I’m pretty confident that I have correctly identified it. Interesting fact: this is the only one of the four clovers in this post that is native to North America.
Pretty and educational!
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