Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

113Trifolium rep ens. White clover"Recorded in every tetrad in Sussex (Hall 1980).We have recorded it in every square too.Widespread in Britain, Europe, Asia and North Africa. It is extensively sown as anagricultural crop; we have not investigated which of the numerous cultivars are established inour area.4 5* Trifolium hybridum. Alsike clover.Nine tetrads around the edge of the Forest (Hall 1980), surprisingly frequent as we onlyrecorded it once, as a few plants scattered through a rushy pasture at The Farm {392.326),1995, TR, a most peculiar place for it and totally out of character. Perhaps the decline is dueto it no longer being sown on roads ides or grown as a crop.3 -I--+----------1--l-- Probably introduced throughout Britain, and widespread in the lowlands especially onverges. Native in southern Europe and Asia.4 5Trifolium campestre. Hop trefoil.Seven tetrad records on the Forest (Hall 1980), yet we have only recorded one plant hidingunder Genista anglica on ride near Stone Cottage (445.327), Sylvia Priestly, 1995; it is oddlyrare but is perhaps more commonly associated with basic soils.In Sussex locally common in open places on the chalk and frequent elsewhere.3 -I--I-----l..I- Widespread in lowland Britain, and in Europe except the extreme north and east, western Asiaand North Africa.4 5Trifolium dubium. Lesser trefoil.Widespread on the Forest on verges, damp grassland, lawns, etc.Recorded in Sussex in 90% of the tetrads (Hall 1980). Widespread and increasing inEngland (Rich & Woodruff 1996), possibly as it is often accidentally sown as a contaminant ofT. rep ens seed (Grime et al. 1988). Widespread in Europe except the extreme north, andNorth Africa.Trifolium micranthum. Slender trefoil.Tetrads 42N, 43W and 53A (Hall 1980).Scattered across the Forest on damp clayey soils. 1995 was a very good year for it,4 5with many new records from previously botanised places but it had disappeared completely byJuly!This species is easily confl:lsed with depauperate T. dub/um, especially on mown lawns,but is much rarer. On the Forest it typically has 3-6 flowers, each with a slender pedicel and adarker yellow colour than T. dub/um but not as orange as it can be elsewhere in Britain. Theterminal leaflet also has a stalk about the same length as those on the side leaflets, whilstlesser trefoil has it distinctly longer.Perhaps commonest in south-east England in Britain, but widely scattered in open grassland and especially lawns.Western and southern Europe, the Caucasus and North Africa.