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Trifolium repens

Trifolium repens

8.9
A common low plant with three-part green leaves and white or pink flowers that grows in lawns
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : Trébol blanco
  • Trifolium repens is often used as ground cover in parks and gardens.

Examples

  • I found a patch of Trifolium repens in my garden.

  • Farmers plant Trifolium repens to improve soil nitrogen levels for future crops.

  • Children sometimes search Trifolium repens patches for rare four-leaf clovers.

  • The bees love the flowers of Trifolium repens.

  • The garden was full of Trifolium repens, giving it a vibrant green color during the summer.

  • Cows grazed happily in the field, where Trifolium repens provided nutritious ground cover for them.

  • Homeowners often choose Trifolium repens for their lawns because it requires less water than traditional grass.

Synonyms

white clover
vsTrifolium repens
1 4.6

A short plant with round leaves and small white or pink flowers often eaten by farm animals

is the scientific species name for that same plant
Dutch clover
vsTrifolium repens
6.0

A low plant with three small leaves and white flowers that spreads across the ground

is the widely used common name for this same species in lawns and pastures

Surface Forms

Morphology

Trifolium + repens

The binomial 'Trifolium repens' follows botanical genus + species naming, and since 'Trifolium' is explicitly a clover genus a learner who knows that would infer it refers to a type of clover. However 'repens' is a Latin species epithet (not listed here) and not transparent to a B1 English learner, so the full specific meaning ('white/creeping clover') is not predictable from the constituents alone.

Etymology

Trifolium repens comes from Latin words: Trifolium meaning 'three-leaved' and repens meaning 'creeping'. The name gives a clear picture of a low plant that creeps across the ground with three-part leaves, so it fits the common white clover you find in lawns and pastures.