Smaller Hop Clover
Trifolium procumbens
Family Leguminosae

Characteristics:
* Flower yellow, less than 1/2".
* Terminal leaflet is stalked and often notched at the tip.
* Usually prostrate on ground.
* Height: 6-16".

Natural History:
* Flowers May - September.
* Habitat: Roadsides, waste places.
* Range: Throughout the United States.
* Introduced from Europe.

Connections!
* There are 238 varieties of clover in temperate and subtropical climates.

* Clover pollen is often gathered by bees to make honey. Honey is fed to bee larvae and the queen, and is stored to sustain the hive during winter. When humans harvest honey, they are harvesting the hive's winter supply. Thus, professional bee keepers replace the honey they harvest with sugar water. It takes about 130,000 foraging trips by bees to gather enough nectar for a kilogram (2.2 lbs) of honey. This requires visits to about 10 million flowers and about 400,000 kilometers in flight; that amounts to 10 times around the earth! And you might have considered yourself well-travelled... For more information about bees and clover and honey, see Bugs in the System, by May Berenbaum.