Botanical name: Trifolium pratense
Folk names: Trefoil, marl grass, meadow trefoil, shamrock

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Rich in high-quality pollen and nectar for longer-tongued Garden, Common Carder and Red-tailed bumblebees and butterflies. Caterpillar food for Marbled Clover, Mother Shipton and Burnet Companion moths.

Flowers: June to August

Decorative merit: Pink or reddish-purple globose flowers 3cm long, forming oval clusters, held on hairy stems with grey-green, oval to elliptical leaves marked with a pale ‘V’. Grows in gently sprawling clumps. Nourishes the soil with nitrogen. 

Where: Sun or part-shade. Borders, mini meadows, wilder patches or try in a container (one lady has had great success with this!). Slugs love the seedlings so protect with copper rings.

Folklore: Promoting sleep and fertility. The four-leaf clover is seen as a powerful magical talisman. Edible flowers.

Pea family relative of birdsfoot trefoil and white clover.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank