Trifolium campestre

Hop clover, Hop Clover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Hop clover is a naturalized annual herb found in northern California's Central Valley and Foothill Provinces in disturbed areas and roadsides at elevations below 300 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in dense, spherical heads 8 to 13 millimeters wide that quickly turn brown with age. Growing with decumbent to erect puberulent stems, it spreads low across the ground in loose, sprawling clusters. Its leaves are compound with three leaflets, each obovate and measuring 0.6 to 1.5 centimeters long, supported by ovate stipules with petioles longer than the leaflets. The small, fragile fruits retain a persistent style less than one millimeter long.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, roadsides

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: especially < 300 m

Bioregions: Gen n CA-FP

California counties: Contra Costa, Marin, Amador, Humboldt, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tulare, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Mendocino, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Placer, Santa Cruz, Solano, Monterey, Butte, Tehama, Stanislaus, Glenn, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Plumas, Napa, Riverside, Sonoma, Yolo, El Dorado, Shasta, Fresno

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.