Brown clover

Trifolium badium, the brown clover, is a low perennial herb in the family Fabaceae native to the mountains of central and southern Europe, occurring in the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, and Balkan ranges, where it grows in subalpine and alpine calcareous grassland, mountain pastures, and rocky meadows at 1500-2800 m elevation. The plant produces a short woody rootstock from which arise tufts of short ascending or decumbent stems 5-25 cm tall, the plant generally glabrous or with only a sparse pubescence. Leaves are alternate, long-petioled at the base and progressively shorter-petioled up the stem, palmately trifoliolate; each leaflet is obovate to oblong, 0.8-2 cm long, with finely toothed margins, distinct lateral veins running into the marginal teeth, and a notched or truncate apex. The stipules are large, oblong-lanceolate, and partly adnate to the petiole. The inflorescence is a compact globose to ovoid head 1.5-2.5 cm across borne on a peduncle 2-8 cm long arising from the upper leaf axil. Flowers are typical small pea-flowers, initially bright golden-yellow at opening, but turning a characteristic chestnut to deep dark brown as they age and remain attached on the head, giving the plant its specific epithet and common name.