Trifolium dubium (Least hop clover)

Trifolium dubium Sibth.

Least hop clover, small hop clover, suckling clover

Least hop clover is one of several difficult-to-distinguish yellow clovers. From Eurasia and central Asia, it probably arrived in North America by accident, where it has become widespread. It appears in disturbed soil and meadows, and is common in lawns.

Plants: 2–6″ (5–15 cm) tall, often forming mats. Stems are green or reddish, and multiply branched.

Leaves: Alternate, trifoliate, with a larger center leaf on a short petiole (stem), often notched at the top.

Flowers: Each flowerhead is a small oval to spherical raceme about ¼″ (6.3 mm) in size, atop a long stalk, with 3-20 diminutive yellow flowers. Flowers appear from May to October.

Fruits: Flowers turn brown when seeds ripen, each enclosing tiny egg-shaped pods 1/32–1/16″ (1.5–2 mm) long.

Habitats: Disturbed soil, meadows, common in lawns.

Similar species.

By TeunSpaans

Online References:

Paghat's Garden

Plants for a Future

CalPhotos at the University of California, Berkeley

SEINet—the Southwest Environmental Information Network

The Jepson Manual

References:

Newcomb, Lawrence, Morrison, Gordon (Illus.), Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, Little, Brown and Company, 1977, p. 58

Peterson, Roger Tory, McKenny, Margaret, Peterson Field Guides: Wildflowers—Northeastern and North Central North America, Houghton Mifflin, 1968, p. 150

7/27/2009 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 8″ (17 × 21 cm) ID is uncertain

8/11/2009 · Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 9 × 7″ (22 × 18 cm) ID is uncertain

9/18/2016 · Edgar M. Tennis Preserve, Deer I, Maine

6/16/2013 · Sonny and Donna’s, Tenant’s Harbor, Maine · ≈ 9 × 6″ (23 × 16 cm)

1/5/2026 · By Richard Old, XID Services, Inc., United States

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Fabales	Legumes (pea and bean families)
Family	Fabaceae	Legume family (peas and beans)
Genus	Trifolium	“Three-leaved,” for the 3-leaf clusters
Species	dubium	Doubtful, as in the sense of not conforming to a pattern

About plant names...

Range: Zones 8a-9b:

About this map...

Trifolium dubium description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.