**1. Cultivation of Clover:**
– Several species of clover are cultivated as fodder plants.
– White clover and red clover are the most widely cultivated species.
– Clover is sown alone or with ryegrass for silaging.
– Clover fixes nitrogen, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers.
– Bumblebees are efficient pollinators of clover.
**2. Uses of Clover:**
– Clover is foraged by wildlife like bears, game animals, and birds.
– Native Americans consumed clover raw or cooked and used the roots.
– Clover blossoms can be used to make tea.
– Traditional uses include making bread from clover seeds.
– Clovers have various uses in traditional and wildlife settings.
**3. Symbolism of Clover:**
– Shamrock symbolizes the Holy Trinity.
– Four-leaf clovers are considered lucky.
– Rare leaf structures with five or more leaflets exist.
– ‘In clover’ signifies a carefree life.
– Cloverleaf interchange is named after the leaflets of a clover.
**4. Phylogeny of Clover:**
– Trifolium is classified into eight sections by Michael Zohary and David Heller.
– Trifolium repens falls in the Lotoidea section.
– Lotoidea is considered a clade with specific shared traits.
– Molecular data has confirmed and questioned the proposed phylogeny.
– A new classification system with two subgenera is based on molecular studies.
**5. Other Information about Clover:**
– Clover is a genus with about 300 species of flowering plants.
– Clover plants are small herbaceous plants up to 30 cm tall.
– Related genera include Melilotus and Medicago.
– Clover has a cosmopolitan distribution with high diversity in the Northern Hemisphere.
– Various synonyms and closely related genera exist for clover.
Clover, also called trefoil, are plants of the genus Trifolium (from Latin tres 'three' + folium 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with highest diversity in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics. They are small annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial herbaceous plants, typically growing up to 30 centimetres (12 in) tall. The leaves are trifoliate (rarely, they have four or more leaflets; the more leaflets the leaf has, the rarer it is; see four-leaf clover), with stipules adnate to the leaf-stalk, and heads or dense spikes of small red, purple, white, or yellow flowers; the small, few-seeded pods are enclosed in the calyx. Other closely related genera often called clovers include Melilotus (sweet clover) and Medicago (alfalfa or Calvary clover).
| Clover | |
|---|---|
| |
| Trifolium repens (white clover) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Clade: | Inverted repeat-lacking clade |
| Tribe: | Trifolieae |
| Genus: | Trifolium L. |
| Subgenera and sections | |
|
subg. Chronosemium
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| Synonyms | |
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