Fabaceae, the pea, bean or legume family.
Description:
Plant:
Low, creeping, to 6" (sometimes more) with three-part leaves and dense heads
of small white or sometimes pink pea-like flowers.
Stems mostly hairless.
Flowers:
White, or sometimes pink, tubular pea-like
flowers in dense heads about 3/4" across, on long stem.
Pink flowers seem more common during dry conditions.
Leaves:
Alternate, compound, with three leaflets each about 3/8", obovate to
heart-shaped (obcordate), and minutely toothed. Leaflets have light winged or
triangular marking near the center.
Fruit:
Dry, seed-like fruit in heads.
Blooming:
May-October,
Habitat:
Lawns, fields.
Comments:
This is the common white clover of lawns.
Sometimes considered a weed, but its roots harbor nodules of
nitrogen-fixing bacteria that enrich the soil.
Occasionally has leaves with 4 (or even more) leaflets.
The tendency seems associated with particular plants.
As a child I knew of a patch that regularly produced 4,5, and even 6-leafed
clovers.
Where to find it:
Common in the lawns of the park.