BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Trifolium repens | White Clover 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
White clover is a cool-season perennial forb.  It produces stolons that
root at the nodes.  The leaves are located along the creeping stems.
The small seeds have a hard seed coat [11,32,40].
  
A tap root develops in young plants and persists from less than 1 year
to 2 years.  The majority of the roots are shallow and fibrous, forming
at stolon nodes [1].  Most of the roots of white clover are in the top 4
to 10 inches (10-25 cm) of the soil [1].  Some roots occur as deep as 24
inches (60 cm).  Roots of at least one cultivar can penetrate up to 5
feet (1.5 m), depending on soil texture and structure [40].

Harberd [42] reported that most white clover clones live about 20 years,
but some may live to 100 or more years of age.


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
White clover reproduces by seed and by stoloniferous stems [15].  The
seeds are dispersed by wind, water, birds, and grazing animals
[4,11,38].  Hull [17] reported that seeds stored for 25 years in
unheated sheds had a germination rate of 73 percent.  In at least one
cultivar, the taproot supports vegetative regrowth [1].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
White clover can grow in a wide range of soil and moisture conditions
but grows best in the humid areas of the temperate zone [39].  It is
found along roads, in meadows, and in wooded areas [12].  White clover
grows on well drained or poorly drained soils but optimal growth occurs
on moist, deep soils with 0 to 8 percent slope.  It is not tolerant of
drought, excess water, or soils that are saline, highly alkaline, or
acid [11].  




SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Faculative Seral Species

White clover thrives in full sunlight and declines as grass cover
increases.  It will grow in partial shade of aspen and oak woodlands
[38].  White clover rapidly invades canopy gaps [25].  In a study of
oldfield-deciduous forest succession in southwestern Ohio, white clover
was present on sites 2, 10, and 50 years after disturbance but not
present on sites that were 90 or more years old [35].  In British
Columbia, white clover is one of the first plants to colonize river
gravel bars [10].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
White clover begins new growth in early to midspring, later in higher
elevations and latitudes.  It flowers from May to July or throughout the
summer in cool, moist areas but becomes semidormant under hot, dry
conditions.  The seeds mature about 3 to 4 weeks after flowering [36].

Related categories for Species: Trifolium repens | White Clover