Cultivation history Clover was first domesticated in Spain in around the year 1000
CE. During European urbanization,
crop rotations involving clover became essential for replacing the
fixed nitrogen exported to cities as food. Increased soil nitrogen levels from the spreading use of clover were one of the main reasons why European agricultural production in 1880 was about 275% of the production in 1750. Fields of clover, used as
forage and newly-invented
silage, became an important part of the rural landscape;
Honeybees can also pollinate clover, and
beekeepers are often in heavy demand from farmers with clover pastures. Farmers reap the benefits of increased reseeding that occurs with increased bee activity, which means that future clover yields remain abundant. Beekeepers benefit from the clover bloom, as clover is one of the main
nectar sources for honeybees.
Trifolium repens, white or Dutch clover, is a perennial abundant in meadows and good pastures. The flowers are white or pinkish, becoming brown and deflexed as the corolla fades.
Trifolium hybridum, alsike or Swedish clover, is a perennial which was introduced early in the 19th century and has now become naturalized in Britain. The flowers are white or rosy, and resemble those of
Trifolium repens.
Trifolium medium, meadow or zigzag clover, a perennial with straggling
flexuous stems and rose-purple flowers, Other species are:
Trifolium arvense, hare's-foot trefoil; found in fields and dry pastures, a soft hairy plant with minute white or pale pink flowers and feathery sepals;
Trifolium fragiferum, strawberry clover, with globose, rose-purple heads and swollen calyxes;
Trifolium campestre, hop trefoil, on dry pastures and roadsides, the heads of pale yellow flowers suggesting miniature hops; and the somewhat similar
Trifolium dubium, common in pastures and roadsides, with smaller heads and small yellow flowers turning dark brown. == Uses ==