Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Trifolium subterraneum

Other names

Burrowing Clover

Family

Fabaceae

Flowering season

April to June

English distribution

It is found mainly in East Anglia, the Southeast, the

South and the Southwest. It is either thinly scattered

or absent elsewhere.

See the BSBI distributionmap for Subterranean Clover

Habitat

It grows mainly near the coast in bare, dry, grassy places.

Description

Subterranean Clover is a native, hairy, nitrogen-fixing,

prostrate herb, growing up to 20cm.

The flowers are creamy white, up to 14mm, and in groups

of 2 to 5. There is a longish corolla tube and the sepals

are raggedy and hairy.

Some flowers are sterile with no petals - just a spreading

calyx.

The fruiting flowerheads bury themselves in the soil.

Leaflets are up to 2cm and hairy, especially on the

lower surface.

Stipules are broadly oval and acute.

Stems are hairy.