Owl-head clover

Trifolium alpestre is a herbaceous perennial of the legume family growing 20-50 cm tall from a creeping rhizome. Stems are erect, simple or sparingly branched, and finely appressed-hairy throughout. Leaves are trifoliolate with narrowly elliptic to lanceolate leaflets 2-5 cm long, distinctly net-veined, and minutely pubescent beneath; the membranous stipules are conspicuously veined and long-pointed, sheathing the stem. The inflorescence consists of one or two sessile, dense, ovoid heads 2-3 cm across borne at the top of the stem, subtended by the uppermost pair of leaves. Individual flowers are deep crimson-purple, 10-15 mm long, papilionaceous, with persistent hairy calyces having long-pointed teeth. Fruits are small one-seeded pods enclosed in the calyx. Found in dry meadows, grassy slopes, and forest margins across central and southern Europe, it flowers May to July.