Although white clover is used almost exclusively as a forage, various highly attractive mutants are known. When combined together, white clover also has potential as an ornamental species.
- The genetic control of many traits is known; for others it is not
- We are trying to determine the genetic control of those traits for which the genetics are currently unknown
- See some results
White clover is called that because its flowers are normally white. However, cyanadin-red variants are known. This cyanidin-red color has been reported to be due to 2 recessive genes (Brewbaker, 1962). Unfortunately, the original seed stocks no longer exist. A newly discovered red red flower color may or may not be the same trait, but segregation data do not fit the two-gene recessive model (Pederson & McLaughlin, 1995 & our data).
Left to right: wild-type with white flowers, blush, the red flower color variant, and crystal-pink flowers.
White clover leaves are normally trifoliolate, that is, they have 3 leaflets. They also have a very distinctive V-shaped, white leafmark. Other single, dominant genes are known that affect leaf appearance.
The V locus:



Left to right: wild type (v/v); white V leaf mark (V/_); full V mark ((Vf/_)
The Rl locus:



Left to right: Red leaf, red midrib, and red fleck
The RV locus:

Red leafmark (Note the red leafmark starts as a red “V”, which fills in on older leaves)
Other traits:


Left to right: Marginal mark and elongated petiole
The various traits can be combined with each other:






Left to right: marginal mark + red midrib; marginal mark + red leafmark; marginal mark + red leafmark + red midrib; “Green Heart” = red leaf + early-stage red leafmark; marginal mark + red leafmark + red leaf; marginal mark + red leafmark + red leaf + red midrib.


Other genes affect the number of leaflets per leaf. The genetics of this trait are also unkown, and we are currently investigating it. Multifoliolate leaves can be either palmate or pinnate, depending on whether the petiolule is elongated or not.

Occasional variants with four leaflets have captured the imagination of the public over the centuries, and in this day and age are associated with good luck. The four-leaflet trait is probably just a milder manifestation of the multifoliolate trait, as both can be found on the same plants. Masters (1869) described the four-leaflet trait thusly:
“Compound leaves, as has been stated, occasionally produce an extra number of leaflets; one for the most familiar illustrations of this is in the case of the four-leaved shamrock (Trifolium repens), which was gathered at night-time during the full moon by sorceresses, who mixed it with vervain and other ingredients, while young girls in search of a token of perfect happiness made quest of the plant by day.”
Did you know, according to a study by Share the Luck, 4-leaf clovers are found about 1 in 5000 times!

Many other traits await study. Here is a genotype which turns bright red under certain environmental conditions.
Types with notable color or morphological variations have been used as ornamentals in previous centuries. Erith (1924) wrote about a purple-leafed variety:
“This variety is not infrequently grown as an ornamental plant in gardens, being propagated vegetatively; a large proportion of its seedlings have purple leaves. A four-leaved form of it, with four or more leaflets, was much grown in gardens in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. … Parkinson (1640) names it … Fower-leafed or purple grasse. He says: ‘The purple grasse spreadeth on the ground, the leaves are in some 3, on others 4 or 5 on a stalk, of a sad green colour, with a shadow of dark purple cast over them, the flowers are white. I never saw this, but in gardens where women keep it in confidence to be good for the purples in children or others.’”
Links to Ornamental Varieties
Further reading:
Check out Ken Olsen’s clover cyanogenesis page! Overall, the genetics of leaf traits in white clover is not totally clear. Some mutants described in the earlier literature have been lost and are no longer available.
- Albert NW. 2014. Anthocyanin leaf markings are regulated by a family of R2R3-MYB genes in the genus Trifolium. New Phytologist 205(2):882-93
- Atwood SS. 1938. A “one-leaved” white clover. Journal of Heredity 24:239-240.
- Atwood SS and KW Kreitlow. 1946. Studies of a genetic disease of Trifolium repens simulating a virosis. American Journal of Botany 33:91-100.
- Baltensperger DD, DS Wofford, and WH Anderson. 1991. Registration of FL-ML white clover germplasm. Crop Science 31:853.
- Brewbaker JL. 1955. V-leaf markings of white clover. Journal of Heredity 46:115-123.
- Brewbaker JL. 1962. Cyanidin-red white clover. Journal of Heredity 53:163-167.
- Carnahan HL, HD Hill, AA Hanson, and KG Brown. 1955. Inheritance and frequencies of leaf markings in white clover. Journal of Heredity 46:109-114.
- Corkill L. 1963. A white clover strain with a distinguishing leaf mark. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 6(5):457-459.
- Corkill L. 1971. Leaf markings in white clover. Journal of Heredity 62:307-310.
- Duke JA 1981. Trifolium repens In: Handbook of Legumes of World Economic Importance. Plenum Press, New York and London, Pp 255-262.
- Erith AG. 1924. White clover (Trifolium repens L.). A monograph. Duckworth, London, Pp 36; 116-121.
- Hovin AW and PB Gibson. 1951. A red leaf marking in white clover. Journal of Heredity 52-295-296.
- Masters MT. 1869. Vegetable Teratology, An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants. Robert Hardwicke Publisher, London, P 356.
- Lenoble, M., and J. Papineau. 1970. Note sur une nouvelle marque foliaire chez Trifoliom repens. (In French.) Ann Amelior Des Plant 20:485–487
- Parkinson J. 1640. Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants or An Herball of Large Extent. Tho. Cotes. Publisher, London, Pp 1110-1112.
- Pederson GA. 1995. Registration of MSRLM red leaf mark white clover germplasm. Crop Science 35:1235-1236.
- Pederson GA and MR McLaughlin 1995. Registration of MSRedFl red-flowered white clover germplasm. Crop Science 35:596.
- Quesenberry KH, RR Smith, NL Taylor, DD Baltensperger, and WA Parrott. 1991. Genetic nomenclature in clovers and special-purpose legumes. I. Red and white clover. Crop Science 31:861-867.
- Tashiro, RT, JH Bouton, and WA Parrott. 2009. ‘Frosty Morning’, ‘Patchwork Quilt’, ‘Irish Mist’, and ‘Pistachio Ice Cream’ ornamental white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Hortscience 44:1779-1782.
- Tashiro RT, Y Han, M Monteros, J Bouton, and WA Parrott. 2010. Leaf trait coloration in white clover and molecular mapping of the red midrib and leaflet number traits. Crop Science 50:1260-1268.