Skip to content

All plants /Ground /White Clover

White Clover (Trifolium repens)

White Clover

Trifolium repens, legume family. Abundant in East and Central and West Texas.

At a glance

What
Flowers and young leaves
How
Flowers raw or as tea; leaves cooked
When
Spring into summer
Where
Lawns, fields, roadsides everywhere
Value
A mild sweet nibble

Caution: Eat clover in modest amounts and best cooked or dried for tea, since large quantities of raw clover can cause bloating. Harvest from unsprayed lawns. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.

Identification

The familiar three-leaflet lawn clover with round white flower heads. Truly abundant and easy to know.

Uses

The sweet flower heads make a pleasant nibble and a mild tea; young leaves are best lightly cooked.

Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Forages well with

Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.