White Clover Uses | Benefits Of White Clover

White Clover is an edible weed and has many uses along with different benefits. To know about the White Clover Uses, read this article carefully!

What is White Clover?

White Clover’s botanical name is ‘Trifolium repens,’ and it’s related to ‘Fabaceae‘ family with genus ‘Trifolium.’ It’s originated from the British Isles, Central Asia, Morocco, Tunisia, and Europe. It’s an annual, perennial plant, with leaves shaped like an egg and is called by different vernacular names

1. Dutch clover
2. New Zealand White
3. White Dutch clover
4. Ladino clover

The white clover plant is an excellent companion crop that can grow along with lawn grasses, such as orchardgrass and ryegrass. It’s a perfect place for honey bees to get pollen along with nectar. Honey made from white clover is called ‘Clover Honey.’

Hardiness Zone- 3-10

Height- 6 to 12 inches

Nutritional Info

White Clover is a rich source of protein, phytochemicals, organic acids, along with derivatives, like alkaloids, amino acids, peptides, flavonoids, oligosaccharides, and coumarins. Furthermore, it also has depurative, antioxidant, and antirheumatic properties.

White Clover Benefits

Below are some potential health benefits of white clover, that’ll push you to add this nutritious weed in your diet!

1. Prevents Rheumatism and Gout

The white Cloverleaf ointment is beneficial in the treatment of gout and rheumatism pain. It’s rich in expectorant, antiseptic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory properties, making it useful to treat rheumatic inflammation.

2. Manages Respiratory Disorders

Thanks to white clover’s expectorant as well as antispasmodic properties, it is useful in the treatment of respiratory diseases. Furthermore, it has flavonoids like quercetin and Kaempferol aglycones that prevent lungs-related diseases.

3. Helpful in Fever and Cold

White clover is helpful in the treatment of cold and fever by infusing its flowers in water for a certain period of time. It has anti-inflammatory properties that prevent inflammatory responses of fever.

4. Controls Diabetes & Lipase Levels

The extract of the white clover flowers has hypoglycaemic and anti-lipase activity. It’s a rich source of flavonoids that slow down enzyme activity, namely α-amylase and α-glucosidase, to control diabetes. Any fluctuation in lipase levels can cause bowel disorder, kidney failure, or cirrhosis.

White Clover Uses

To know, if you’re allergic to this edible weed, firstly consume it in small quantity. Below are some uses of white clover that’ll surely raise your eyebrows!

1. Commonly Used as Fodder

Traditionally, a white clover plant is used as a fodder to feed livestock and wildlife because of its bulk availability and high levels of nutrients. Furthermore, its seed mixture is the main source of food in deer, turkey, horse farming, along with pig feeding as well.

2. To Brew Tea

You can make a nutritious tea with the help of dried flowers of white clover plants. Its preparation is quite simple, take 4-5 dried white clover flowers and put them into one cup of boiled water. Let it steep for 10-12 minutes. After that, strain the solid waste with the help of a tea strainer, and it’s ready to consume.

3. Uses as Food

All the aerial parts of ladino clover plants like flowers, leaves, seeds, and stems are safe to consume in the form of salads, soups, and sauces. You can use its dried leaves in baking products such as cookies, bread, and brownie as well. Furthermore, you can consume its fresh leaves either in raw or in the form of a potherb.

4. Using White Clover for Medicine

Dutch clover has medicinal properties that’s why it’s used as a home remedy in many folklore and traditional practices. Both the aerial and root parts of this plant can be used as a salve (ointment) or decoction.

5. White Clover in Agriculture

You can utilize white clover as a ground cover plant to prevent soil erosion and drought-like conditions. It’s also useful as a cover crop to inhibit the growth of weed and pests, along with controlling the fertility of the soil. Furthermore, you can use white clover as an alternative to chemical-filled nitrogen fertilizer because of its nitrogen-fixing potential.

After learning the above uses of white clover, you’ll admire how this homegrown weed can be helpful to you in many ways. Furthermore, you can grow this plant in your lawn or indoor gardens. Try it now.