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Are Clovers Intrusive - and is this a clover

20 years ago

I picked (from the side of a country road)what I think is a clover. I took about 5 inches along with some roots.

I put it in a pot with soil.

I have 2 questions:

1 - Is this a clover, or some variant of butter bud. The leaves are in groups of 3. They are tiny areas of 3 starting to flower. The flowers appear to be yellow. I thought that clovers ahd white flowers. If I can find a decent digital camera, I will post pictures.

2 - If it is a clover, is there any danger of putting the pot on my windowsill with my other plants - will it shoot spores and start growing in the other pots?

Thanks

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Comments (5)

ahughes798
20 years ago
If it has yellow flowers, it is probably yellow sweet clover which is not native, and listed as a noxious weed in most of the states it has showed up in.

Clovers don't make spores...they make seeds. If you plant this out in your garden, and it goes to seed, I can guarantee you it will seed itself all over, and you'll be pulling the stuff up for the rest of your life.

I don't think it would do all that well on your windowsill..but yellow sweet clover is a tough plant.
dragon49
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks - I will keep it away from my other plants. Two followup questions:

If it is not native - where did it originally come from.

Will it grow under artificial light?
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ourfamilygarden
20 years ago
I didn't know that clovers were considered noxious? I rather like them. But, maybe it depends on the type of clover?

We have one that has little yellow flowers that is bloomiing now. I have them in a few places, in my different gardens. Whatever type I have, I've never had a problem with it overtaking the other plants.

My favorite is red clover. I grew it from seeds from a bulk tea I had. They mustn't be as hardy as they didn't come back a couple of years ago. I'll have to reseed for them.
paalexan
20 years ago
There are native and invasive clovers... plants in the genus Melilotus, tall plants with their flowers in elongate inflorescences, usually called "sweet-clover", are all introduced to the US from Eurasia and several of them can be invasive. Plants in the genus Trifolium, usually just called "clover", are short plants with short, globular inflorescences and either yellow, white, or purplish flowers. The yellow-flowered Trifolium include both native and introduced species, none of which, as far as I know, are problematic invasives. They can be weedy in lawns, though.

Patric Alexander
ahughes798
20 years ago
If it's yellow sweet clover or white sweet clover, it came from Eurasia, and was imported here to be food for livestock. I don't know if it will grow under grow-lights, but I suspect it would.

Yes, there are native clovers. Round-headed bush clover is one. The non-native clovers tend to be weedy, invasive pains in the butt, LOL!

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