Crimson clover

Trifolium incarnatum, crimson clover, is an upright annual herb in the legume family Fabaceae growing 20–50 cm tall on hairy stems that are unbranched or branched only near the base. The trifoliate leaves are borne on long petioles, with broadly obovate leaflets 8–16 mm across that are softly hairy and have a truncate or slightly notched apex. From late spring into summer the plant produces dense, elongated, conical to cylindrical terminal flower heads 3–5 cm tall and about 1.5 cm wide; the individual pea-flowers, 10–13 mm long, range from creamy white to a vivid deep red or crimson and have a banner petal that folds forward over the keel. Native to most of Europe and southwestern Asia, it is widely cultivated as a nitrogen-fixing cover crop, forage legume and erosion-control plant in mild-winter climates and is naturalised on roadsides and waste places far beyond its original range.