Trifolium aureum, known by the various common names large hop trefoil, large trefoil, large hop clover, or hop clover, is a species of flowering plant native to much of Eurasia.
Description
Large hop trefoil is a small erect herbaceous biennial plant growing to tall. Like all clovers, it has leaves divided into three sessile leaflets, each leaflet long and 6–9 mm broad.
The yellow flowers are arranged into small, elongated round inflorescences 12–20 mm diameter, located at the end of the stem. Each individual flower is decumbent. As they age, the flowers become brown and paper-like. The fruit is a pod usually containing two seeds.
Similar plants
Other plants that have three leaflets and small yellow flowers include T. campestre (hop trefoil, which is shorter with smaller foliage), T. dubium (lesser hop trefoil), Medicago lupulina, and Oxalis stricta.
Distribution and habitat
Trifolium aureum is native throughout Europe (in Spain only in the northeast), western and northern Asia, and the Middle East (in Ciscaucasia and western Siberia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, northern Iran, Lebanon and Turkey). It is also native to the Canary Islands.