Rabbit-foot clover

Appearance

It is a small erect herbaceous annual, or sometimes biennial plant, growing to 10-40 cm tall. Like all clovers, it has leaves divided into three sessile leaflets, which are slender, 1-2 cm long and 3-5 mm broad, and sometimes edged with small hairs and finely serrated. The leaves have a pair of stipules at the base, often tipped in red. The flowers are grouped in a dense inflorescence 2-3 cm long and 1-1.5 cm broad; each flower is 4-5 mm long, rosy white in colour, and especially characterised by the many silky white hairs which tip the five sepals, which are much larger than the petals. These hairs, along with the more or less oblong form of the inflorescence, are the inspiration for the common name.

Reproduction

Pollination is carried out by bees, or via autogamy, since the plant is hermaphroditic, and the flowering season is from mid-spring to late summer. The fruit is a small pod containing a single seed.

Uses

Like most legumes, it fixes nitrogen, making it valued on low fertility soils for the benefit it gives to other crop species in supplying nitrogen. It is also grazed by sheep and goats.

It has been introduced to North America, where it is an invasive species in some areas.

Scientist at AgResearch in New Zealand have used genetic modification to take a single gene from ''Trifolium arvense'' and put it into the more common white clover. The genetically modified clover would reduce bloating in livestock and decrease methane emissions. The release of the genetically modified clover is expected to be 15 years off.