I’m sitting cross-legged in the dirt in a closed campground beside a fire pit. Only then did I realize there was much more to clovers than just three leaves, more than what Family and Genus they’re in. It took me over fifty years to do this, to pull off the petals, discover what it held within. They have only one or two seeds, and these pods remain closed, dropping like coins to the ground with no one noticing. Tiny, roundish, dark and hidden, not resembling a pea pod at all. Peel away the wilted flower and there it is. If it’s in the pea family, then where are the pea pods? You have to search. It’s strange and beautiful and unique, but at the same time, looks a bit like a pea flower. They’re rooted in our childhood psyche where we eternally search for the rare and lucky four-leaved ones.Īs a botanist, I know clovers are in the genus Trifolium meaning three leaves, and in the Fabaceae family, so they’re related to peas.
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