Red Clover - Trifolium pratense

Short to tall, tufted, hairy plant. Trifoliate leaves often have a white crescent at the centre of their oval leaflets. Flowers reddish purple or pink, 12 to 15 mm, in dense, globose heads, usually solitary, unstalked.

Whilst easy to tell apart in flower, White and Red Clover can be more tricky when you just have leaves to go on. However White Clover leaves are toothed and Red Clover leaves are hairy. Red hair, white teeth!

Grassy habitats, meadows, pastures, lawns roadside verges, etc.

May to September.

Perennial.

Very common throughout Britain.

Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 599 of the 617 tetrads.