Trifolium incarnatum

Crimson clover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Crimson clover is a naturalized annual found in the California Floristic Province, especially in disturbed areas at elevations below 300 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces crimson or white flowers in dense spike-like inflorescences 2 to 6 centimeters long. Growing with erect, generally unbranched hairy stems, it forms an upright annual habit. Its leaves have three leaflets 1 to 2.5 centimeters long, which are obovate to heart-shaped, with prominent veined stipules. The distinctive flower has a calyx 7 to 10 millimeters long with bristle-like lobes and crimson petals reaching 10 to 14 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: especially < 300 m

Bioregions: CA-FP

California counties: Monterey, Butte, Madera, Humboldt, Sonoma, San Bernardino, Orange, San Luis Obispo, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Fresno, Napa, Placer, Santa Clara, Riverside, Glenn, Santa Barbara, Solano, Nevada, Santa Cruz, Amador, Mendocino, Siskiyou, Lake, Sutter, Tehama, Marin, San Diego, Alameda, Sacramento, Ventura, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Stanislaus, Yolo, Imperial

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