Thal's clover

Trifolium thalii, Thal's clover, is a low-growing, mat-forming perennial herb in the Fabaceae family native to the high mountains of central and southern Europe, including the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Apennines and the Carpathians. Plants creep by short, leafy stolons rooting at the nodes, producing tufts of glabrous, trifoliate leaves on long slender petioles; each leaflet is obovate, finely serrated and bright green, often with a translucent margin. From early to late summer short axillary peduncles 5 to 15 centimetres long rise above the foliage, each terminating in a compact, hemispherical to globose flower head 1.5 to 2 centimetres across composed of 10 to 25 small papilionaceous flowers with white to pale pink standards that turn pinkish or brownish as they age. After flowering the heads do not become strongly reflexed. The species grows on damp calcareous alpine pastures, flushes, snowbed communities and stony grasslands, mostly between 1,800 and 2,800 metres elevation.