Knowledgebase
real clover vs look-alike #558132
Asked May 03, 2019, 5:22 PM EDT
Can you tell me what to look for in my "clover" to confirm if it's the good stuff or the pretender?
As long as it's the real stuff I don't mind it - it's just as green as the grass and grows at about the same rate and looks ok mowed.
Thanks,
Marcia Verba
Denver County Colorado
Expert Response
After research it would appear that Crown vetch is a lookalike for red clover. However, the vetch grows 1-2 feet tall with small clusters of l/2" pink & white flowers rather than the red color of red clover. Both are invasive plants. The vetch has 15 oval or oblong leaflets on a coarse stem that is 2-3 feet long and upright. Attached is a fact sheet from the USDA with photo of the crown vetch. https://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_co
Sorry about the red clover response, in re reading it is "Real" clover that is noted in your original question. The look alikes for white clover are:
Trifolium repens which is white clover - the stolons are rooted at the nodes and the flowers are on naked stems.
Trifolium hybridum or Alske clover looks similar and but does not root at the nodes and can have 2 leaves under the flower.
Trifolium pretense is the red clover.
A stolon is a creeping plant stem or runner on the ground that takes root at various points.
va2.pdf
The story I read said that there is a plant that looks like clover (I assume one that looks like my ordinary white blooming lawn clover) but that is really not clover and therefore doesn't put nitrogen in the soil.
Could you revisit that question now as it applies to WHITE clover? Does it have a look-alike or do I most likely have real nitrogen producing clover in my lawn?
The Fabaceae, or Bean, family is a large family of plants and many of them fix nitrogen in the soil. White clover (Trifolium repens) is one of these. Many people consider white clover a weed when it shows up in their lawns but many other people enjoy white clover because it is a favorite of bees.
Plants in the fabaceae family all have compound leaves with 3-leaflets so it can be hard to distinguish among them without also knowing other things like habit, flower color, location, height, time of bloom, etc. The family includes Alfalfa, Astragalus, Lupine, Redbud, Locust, etc. If you are unsure which you have, you can send us a photo once your plant produces a flower and we will identify it for you.
There is a common lawn weed in the Fabaceae family called Black Medic (Medicago lupulina) that looks like clover and is frequently mistaken for clover. It has the same 3-leaflet leaf and trailing habit, but differs from white clover in that it is less long-lived and has a yellow flower instead of a white flower. That may be the look-alike plant someone mentioned to you. Black Medic fixes nitrogen, too. If interested, go to this link to learn more about Black Medic: https://extension.psu.edu/black-medic.
(the link in your answer didn't work directly - i.e. when I clicked on it I got a 404. But I was able to copy paste it into a google search and that got me there. Lots of useful info - thanks)
