Plant · P-084

Alsike Clover

Trifolium hybridum

Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season while feeding clouded sulfur butterfly larvae. Ruminants graze it as pasture and hay, but at high intake horses develop a fatal liver disease with no antidote, so it needs to be kept out of any feed mix meant for them. It struggles through hot summers, regrowing well only in cool, moist conditions, and its leaves and flower heads see occasional use as food and tea.