Plants of Southern New Jersey

Photos by Renee Brecht

Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River

Plant Profile

Trifolium dubium Sibth.

small hops clover


Photos by Renee Brecht		Britton and Brown. See credits below.**

Botanical name:

Trifolium dubium Sibth.

Common name:

small hops clover

Group:

dicot

Family:

Fabaceae

Growth Type:

forb/herb

Duration:

annual

Origin:

introduced

Plant height:

2-14"

Foliage:

palmate leaves with 3 leaflets, much-branched stem, hairy, with terminal leaflet stalked

Flower:

yellow, ridged petals, in a cluster of flowers

Flowering/fruiting time

blooms late April to September

Habitat:

forms mats on disturbed soil; a weed of dry, open disturbed grounds such as waste, lawns, and old fields

Range in New Jersey:

local statewide

Heritage ranking if any:

n/a

Distribution

Misc.:

Binds nitrogen, like most clovers; usually a symptom a lawn (or field) that dries out during the summer

We have four yellow hop-clovers in the United States, all looking very similar. Identifying features below, as per Clemants & Gracie, 2006:

Trifolium aureum (hop clover), leaflets stalkless

Trifolium campestre (low hop clover) leaflets often notched, terminal leaflet stalked, flowers 20-40 per head

Trifolium dubium (little or small hop clover) leaflets notched, terminal leaflet stalked, similar to above, but flowers 5-15 perhead

Medicago lupulina (black medick--native) short spine-tipped, terminal leaflet stalked

 Not sure what a word means? Use Answers.com:

Sources

**USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 2: 572.