Trifolium arvense
Trifolium arvense
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
Trifolium arvesnse is a plant of the temperate zone, where it is found at elevations up to 500 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 9 - 16°c, but can tolerate 4 - 20°c[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -10°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at 0°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 700 - 900mm, but tolerates 520 - 1,200mm[1]. Requires a sunny position[1]. Grows best in lighter, well-drained soils, succeeding in soils of low fertility[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 6.2 - 6.8, tolerating 6 - 7[1]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria; these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[2].
Propagation
Seed - the seed of Trifolium species is often of two kinds - hard-coated and soft-coated. The soft-coated seeds can germinate immediately, whilst hard-coated seeds remain dormant until the seedcoat has broken down enough to permit the ingress of water. In order to speed up and improve germination rates, hard-coated seeds benefit from scarification before sowing. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing. The seed can usually be sown in spring in situ. If the seed is in short supply, it might be better to sow it in pots in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out after the last expected frosts. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Trifolium+arvense>
Pollinators
Insects
References
- [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [2]Nodulation Plants in GRIN Taxonomy — United States Department of Agriculture · http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/cgi-bin/taxnodul.pl?language=en ↩︎An online database listing plants that have either positive or negative reports on root and stem nodulation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
- [3]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
- [4]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
- [5]Invasive lant Species of the World; a reference guide to envoronmental weeds. — Weber E. · Biddles Ltd., King's Lynn, UK · 2005 · ISBN 0-85199-695-7 ↩︎Contains information on the habit and growth patterns of 450 recognised invasive species of plant.