365 Urban species. #354: Red Clover

[urbpan]

Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: Castle Island, Boston.

Urban species #254: Red clover Trifolium pratense


"What is a weed?  A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows." Doug Larson

"A weed is no more than a flower in disguise."
James Russell Lowell

"Man is by definition the first and primary weed under whose influence all other weeds have evolved." Jack R. Harland.

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." Eeyore

Obviously James Russell Lowell was strongly influenced by other great thinkers, such as Eeyore. You will know a weed when it flowers on a heap of discarded soil on a December day, in a major northern city, on a sidewalk, ten feet from the ocean. Red clover is a weed because it can do this, in the farfetched hope that some pollinator will not only visit, but carry its pollen to another hopeful red clover elsewhere. Weeds take advantage of opportunities--as Harland states above, these are always man-made opportunities. Such opportunities include disturbing the soil, so that more sensitive plants can not establish themselves, or removing the surrounding vegetation so that only those weeds that like strong sunlight can survive. Red clover has the added advantage of being useful to humans. Because it is a member of the legume family, it traps nitrogen and makes the soil it grows in better for crops. It provides good food for honeybees, and decent forage for livestock. It has been used for a variety of medicinal uses, and red clover sprouts are grown as vitamin and protein rich health food. It is the national flower of the densely populated country of Denmark, and the sparsely populated state of Vermont, which indicates its esteem and range of habitat. It grows taller than white clover, so it tends to appear in waste areas, while white clover can grow in a mowed area, becoming part of the turf. Red clover is undeniably a weed.

Comments

[harrietbrown.livejournal.com]

Totally beautiful. Well written. A day-maker. Thank you.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'm happy to make your day. :)

[arturus.livejournal.com]

A weed, but also tasty.

[bellisaurius.livejournal.com]

How do you serve it?

[arturus.livejournal.com]

I don't, I just eat the flowers. Or rather, I pick the purple parts off and eat them. It's in no way a premeditated or organized thing.

one of my faves

[eponabast.livejournal.com]

Besides hyacynth and crocuses, I think clovers are my favorite flowers. Might be because I'm a major fan of clover-honey...

[silvaerina-tael.livejournal.com]

Weeds are some of my favorite species, actually.

[mooncroneweb.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Arkansas, red clover was used in highway medians and on the sides to keep down other weeds. Beautiful, but not pleasant for me if the car windows were down as I am extremely alergic to white and red clover. Can't even eat clover honey, or bee pollen, unless it is wildflower, preferably mountain wildflower.

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

At work, a couple months ago, they seeded the wildflower bed for the coming spring. Evidently, there was a lot of clover seed mixed in. Now it's coming up like a green carpet. I think it looks pretty (esp. when so much else is dead now), but the curator is having a hissy fit, and ordering us to tear it all out, wherever we find it. I'd heard he hates roses and spider plants (too "common"), so it stands to reason he'd hate "common weeds," too.

/evidently if it's not an orchid or carniverous, he has no use for it :(

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

A plant snob, huh? That's no fun.

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

To be specific, an UTTER plant snob. :(

I think he thinks common names are too "ghetto" for him to be bothered with.

Yes, it's really putting people off, big time. He was hired as the Curator of Horticulture, but he doesn't know horticulture, and he doesn't seem able to manage people, either. Basically our director hired his resume. VERY disappointing.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Sounds unpleasant. Sometimes I wonder if those people actually take joy in living things.

[gigglingwizard.livejournal.com]

Red Clover's a weed? I've been buying red clover seed from a feed store and seeding my lawn with it. I use it as chicken pasture and as a cover crop for my garden.

You say white clover survives mowing...what about red? Between chickens tearing it out and my mowing so infrequently, I haven't really noticed how well it recovers from mowing. Do you think white clover might serve my purposes better?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

White may be better. I'd want to talk to locals who have tried both. Your climate/rain conditions may be quite different from what we go through here in New England. White is a shorter plant, but I think it tends to spread itself better than red. good luck!

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, but it is a beautiful weed.