Clover

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"Alsike" and "Trifolium" redirect here. For the Swedish locality, see Alsike, Sweden. For the
Canadian locality, see Alsike, Alberta. For the trematode parasite, see Cladocystis trifolium. For
other uses, see Clover (disambiguation).

Clover

Trifolium hybridum (alsike clover)

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

Clade: Angiosperms

Clade: Eudicots

Clade: Rosids

Order: Fabales
 Family: Fabaceae

Tribe: Trifolieae

Genus: Trifolium
L.

Subgenera and sections[1]

subg. Chronosemium
subg. Trifolium

sect. Glycyrrhizum
sect. Involucrarium
sect. Lupinaster
sect. Paramesus
sect. Trichocephalum
sect. Trifoliastrum
sect. Trifolium
sect. Vesicastrum

Synonyms

Amoria C. Presl[2]
Bobrovia A. P.
Khokhr.[2]
Chrysaspis Desv.[2]
Lupinaster Fabr.[2]
Ursia Vassilcz.[2]
Xerosphaera Soják[2]

Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus Trifolium (Latin, tres "three"
+ folium "leaf"), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea
family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with highest diversity in the
temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa,
including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics. They are small annual, biennial, or short-
lived perennial herbaceous plants. Clover can be evergreen. The leaves are trifoliate (rarely
quatrefoiled; see four-leaf clover), cinquefoil, or septfoil), with stipules adnate to the leaf-stalk, and
heads or dense spikes of small red, purple, white, or yellow flowers; the small, few-seeded pods are
enclosed in the calyx.[3] Other closely related genera often called clovers include Melilotus (sweet
clover) and Medicago (alfalfa or Calvary clover).