• General
  • Distribution
  • Impact
  • Management
  • Bibliography
  • Contact
Common name
ladino clover (English), dutch clover (English), white clover (English), trébol blanco (Spanish), trevo-branco (Portuguese), white dutch clover (English), ladino white clover (English), Weißklee (German), trèfle blanc (French), trèfle rampant (French)
Synonym
Trifolium repens , L. var. nigricans G. Don
Trifolium repens , L. var. repens
Amoria repens , (L.) C. Presl
Trifolium biasolettii , Steud. & Hochst.
Trifolium macrorrhizum , Boiss.
Trifolium occidentale , Coombe
Trifolium repens , var. rubescens hort.
Trifolium repens , var. biasolettii
Trifolium repens , var. giganteum
Trifolium repens , var. latum
Trifolium repens , var. macrorrhizum
Trifolium repens , var. pallescens
Trifolium repens , var. atropurpureum hort.
Similar species
Summary
Trifolium repens is a perennial legume that originated in Europe/East Asia and has become one of the most widely distributed legumes in the world. It has naturalized in most of North America, Central and South America, Australia and New Zealand.
Species Description
Trifolium repens has a prostrate, stoloniferous growth habit with leaves that are composed of three leaflets, which sometimes have a crescent-shaped mark on the upper surface. Leaves and roots develop along the stolon at the nodes. The flower heads, each consisting of 40 to 100 florets which are white in colour, are borne on long stalks from the leaf axils (USDA-NRCS, 2010b).
Lifecycle Stages
Trifolium repens is a perennial legume (Caradus, 1994).
Uses
Trifolium repens is reported to be contain both poison and healing abilities. Its leaves contain the chemical genistein which is reported to have ethnobotanical properties.
T. repens is also used as a forage crop.
Habitat Description
Trifolium repens, in the United States, thrives best in a cool, moist climate in soils with ample lime, phosphate, and potash. In general, T. repens is best adapted to clay and silt soils in humid and irrigated areas but also grows successfully on sandy soils with a high water table or irrigated droughty soils when adequately fertilized. T. repens seldom roots deeper than 2 feet, which makes it adapted to shallow soils when adequate moisture is available (USDA-NRCS, 2010b). In New Zealand, T. repens is frost tolerant down to -8 degrees Celsius (Caradus, 1994). In Australia it is common between the alpine and montane areas of the Australian Alps. It can be found up just over 2000m altitude and was introduced to help reduce the impacts of soil erosion (Johnston & Pickering, 2001). On the Amsterdam Islands it has been found to be a host for exotic aphid species, which could potentially affect endemic species (Hulle et al, 2010).

Principal source:

Compiler: IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) with support from the Overseas Territories Environmental Programme (OTEP) project XOT603, a joint project with the Cayman Islands Government - Department of Environment

Review:

Publication date: 2010-06-08

Recommended citation: Global Invasive Species Database (2024) Species profile: Trifolium repens. Downloaded from http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/speciesname/Trifolium+repens on 07-10-2024.

Management Info
Two varities of Trifolium repens; T. repens L. var. nigricans G. Don and T. repens L. var. repens, are known to be established alien species and/or found in the Japanese wild. Because of this, mitigation could be undertaken under the Invasive Alien Species Act, 2004 (Mito & Uesugi, 2004). However T. repens is so widespread within natural vegetation in the Australian Alps, that control is considered impracticable (MacDougall et al, 2005). Pickering & Hill (2007) further establish this by mentioning that although the feasibility of controlling vegetative regeneration is moderate, there is little chance of controlling the seed bank.
Countries (or multi-country features) with distribution records for Trifolium repens
NATIVE RANGE
  • afghanistan
  • albania
  • algeria
  • armenia
  • austria
  • azerbaijan
  • belarus
  • belgium
  • bulgaria
  • cyprus
  • czech republic
  • denmark
  • egypt
  • estonia
  • ex-yugoslavia
  • faroe islands
  • finland
  • france
  • georgia
  • germany
  • greece
  • hungary
  • iceland
  • iran, islamic republic of
  • iraq
  • ireland
  • israel
  • italy
  • jordan
  • kazakhstan
  • kyrgyzstan
  • latvia
  • lebanon
  • libyan arab jamahiriya
  • lithuania
  • moldova, republic of
  • morocco
  • netherlands
  • norway
  • pakistan
  • poland
  • portugal
  • romania
  • russian federation
  • spain
  • sweden
  • switzerland
  • syrian arab republic
  • tajikistan
  • tunisia
  • turkey
  • turkmenistan
  • ukraine
  • united kingdom
  • uzbekistan
Informations on Trifolium repens has been recorded for the following locations. Click on the name for additional informations.
Lorem Ipsum
Location Status Invasiveness Occurrence Source
Details of Trifolium repens in information
Status
Invasiveness
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Introduction
Species notes for this location
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Impact information
Red List assessed species 0:
Management information
Two varities of Trifolium repens; T. repens L. var. nigricans G. Don and T. repens L. var. repens, are known to be established alien species and/or found in the Japanese wild. Because of this, mitigation could be undertaken under the Invasive Alien Species Act, 2004 (Mito & Uesugi, 2004). However T. repens is so widespread within natural vegetation in the Australian Alps, that control is considered impracticable (MacDougall et al, 2005). Pickering & Hill (2007) further establish this by mentioning that although the feasibility of controlling vegetative regeneration is moderate, there is little chance of controlling the seed bank.
Locations
Management Category
None
Unknown
Bibliography
19 references found for Trifolium repens

Management information
Auld, Bruce; Hirohiko Morita; Tomoko Nishida; Misako Ito and Peter Michael, 2003. Shared exotica: Plant invasions of Japan and south eastern Australia. Cunninghamia (2003) 8(1): 147�152
Summary: Available from: http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/58904/Cun8Aul147.pdf [Accessed 28 June 2010]
Champion, P. D. and P. N. Reeves, 2009. Factors causing dune ephemeral wetlands to be vulnerable to weed invasion. DOC Research & Development Series 310
Summary: Available from: http://conservation.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/drds310entire.pdf [Accessed 28 June 2010]
IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)., 2010. A Compilation of Information Sources for Conservation Managers.
Summary: This compilation of information sources can be sorted on keywords for example: Baits & Lures, Non Target Species, Eradication, Monitoring, Risk Assessment, Weeds, Herbicides etc. This compilation is at present in Excel format, this will be web-enabled as a searchable database shortly. This version of the database has been developed by the IUCN SSC ISSG as part of an Overseas Territories Environmental Programme funded project XOT603 in partnership with the Cayman Islands Government - Department of Environment. The compilation is a work under progress, the ISSG will manage, maintain and enhance the database with current and newly published information, reports, journal articles etc.
General information
Broughton, D. A. & McAdam, J. H. 2002. The Non-native Vascular Flora of the Falkland Islands. Botanical Journal of Scotland, 2002, Vol. 54 Issue 2, p153, 38p; (AN 9063913)
Caradus, J. R., 1994. Frost tolerance of Trifolium species. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1994, Vol. 38: 157-162
Greene, S. W & D. W. H. Walton, 1975. An annotated checklist of the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic Vascular Flora. Polar Record, Vol 17, No 110, 1975, p 473-84
Hull�, Maurice; Evelyne Turpeau; Sylvie Hudaverdian; Bernard Chaubet; Yannick Outreman and Marc Lebouvier, 2010. Aphids and associated natural enemies on Ile Amsterdam and Ile Saint-Paul, Southern Indian Ocean. Antarctic Science
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), 2010. Trifolium repens L.
Summary: Available from: http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=26206 [Accessed 28 June 2010]
Johnston FM, Pickering CM. 2001. Exotic plants in the Australian Alps. Mountain Research and Development 21:284�291.
McDougall, Keith L.; John W. Morgan; Neville G. Walsh; Richard J. Williams, 2005. Plant invasions in treeless vegetation of the Australian Alps. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 7 (2005) 159�171
Philcox, D., 1962. Recent Records for the Flora of South Georgia. Kew Bulletin, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1962), pp. 243-245
Pickering, Catherine and Wendy Hill, 2007. Roadside Weeds of the Snowy Mountains, Australia. Mountain Research and Development Vol 27 No 4 Nov 2007
Swenson, Ulf; Tod F. Stuessey; Marcelo Baeza and Daniel, J. Crawford., 1997. New and Historical Plant Introductions, and Potential Pests in the Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile! Pacific Science (1997), vol. 51, no. 3: 233-253
USDA-NRCS, 2010a. Trifolium repens L. white clover
Summary: Available from: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TRRE3 [Accessed 28 June 2010]
Contact
The following 0 contacts offer information an advice on Trifolium repens
Trifolium repens
ladino clover, dutch clover, white clover, trébol blanco , trevo-branco , white dutch clover, ladino white clover, Weißklee, trèfle blanc , trèfle rampant
Date assessed
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Justification for EICAT assessment
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Mechanism(s) of maximum impact
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Recommended citation
(2024). Trifolium repens. IUCN Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT).