Trifolium aureum (Hop clover)

Trifolium aureum Pollich

Hop clover, large hop clover, large hop trefoil, golden clover

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Fabales	Legumes (pea and bean families)
Family	Fabaceae	Legume family (peas and beans)
Genus	Trifolium	“Three-leaved,” for the 3-leaf clusters
Species	aureum	Golden

About plant names...

Hop clover is a native of central and southern Europe, now well established in North America. The common name signifies the resemblance of this clover to hops.

Identification: Trifolium (“three-leaved”) is a large genus, and three common yellow hop clovers are compared below. Black medic, a relative, looks closely similar to low hop clover, so this is included too.

5/31/2010 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts
≈ 3 × 3½" (8.2 × 9.2 cm)

6/22/2018 · Andres Art Institute, Big Bear Mountain, Brookline, New Hampshire
≈ 3½ × 3" (9.6 × 8.2 cm)

	You are here Trifolium aureum	*Trifolium campestre*	*Trifolium dubium*
Common Name	hop clover	low hop clover	least hop clover
Plant	Plants 6-18" (15-45 cm) high.	Up to 16" (40 cm) tall, sometimes erect, sometimes growing along the ground	2-6" (5-15 cm) tall, often forming mats.
Flowers	About ¾" (1.9 cm) high. Flowers turn brown and wilt, seeds fall to the ground instead of forming a fruit	Yellow, less than ½" (1.3 cm) across; roughly spherical, with 20-40 individual flowers; flowerheads become brown with age. Upper petals of the flowers have grooves.	About ¼" (6.3 mm) yellow flowerheads, oval to spherical, 5-15 flowers per head. Flowers turn brown when seeds ripen.
Leaves	Groups of 3. Central leaf is not on a separate stem (petiole). Leaflets about ¾" (1.9 cm) long, ¼" (6.3 mm) wide.	Groups of 3, about ¾" (1.9 cm) long; with small teeth near the leaf tips. The central leaf is on a longer stem (petiole) than with other hop clovers, often notched at the top	Alternate, in groups of 3, with a larger center leaf on a short petiole (stem), often notched at the top.
Stem	Multiply branched, usually erect	Green or reddish green, multiply branched	Green or reddish, multiply branched.
Seeds	Inconspicuous	Inconspicuous
Fruit			Inconspicuous.
Range/ Zones
Habitats	Grasslands, fields, roadsides, wastelands	Temperate grasslands, fields, roadsides, wastelands, cultivated fields	Disturbed soil, meadows, common in lawns.
Type	Wild	Wild	Wild
Occurrence	Common	Common	Common

	*Medicago lupulina*
Common Name	black medic
Plant	Plant may reach up to 30" (76 cm) long
Flowers	Rounded, about ¼-½" (6.3-12 mm)
Leaves	Three leaves, with slightly serrated tips, center leaf on separate petiole
Stem	Often prostrate, light green or reddish green, covered with white hairs
Seeds	Black, coiled
Fruit	Seedpods are “coiled”—this is probably the most unique feature of black medic
Range/ Zones
Habitats	Prairies (black soil, clay), weedy meadows, old fields, cropland, pastures, vacant lots, landfills, cemeteries, lawns, areas along railroads and roadsides, and miscellaneous waste areas; common in low-cut lawns
Type	Wild

From .

Edibility: With most clovers, flower heads (and possibly leaves) may be juiced or boiled and eaten. Dried flower heads and seed pods are also edible. However, I could not find specific edibility information for hop clover, nor could I for the similar-appearing plant black medic (Medicago lupulina).

Online References:

Trifolium aureum at Illinois Wildflowers

Trifolium aureum on WikiBooks.org

Trifolium aureum on the USDA Plants Database

Trifolium aureum at Minnesota Wildflowers

Trifolium aureum on Delaware Wildflowers

Trifolium aureum on Wikimedia Commons

Trifolium aureum on eFloras

Trifolium aureum from the Jepson Manual

References:

Newcomb, Lawrence, Morrison, Gordon (Illus.), Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, Little, Brown and Company, 1977, p. 58

Peterson, Roger Tory, McKenny, Margaret, Peterson Field Guides: A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North Central North America, Houghton Mifflin, 1968, p. 150