A figure is silhouetted lying on the grass. It can be from a woman, it can be from a man. The bee that flies down quickly over the meadow cares little, because it only has one objective. You have located a nice colony of white clover inflorescences (Trifolium repens) on that green tapestry in the middle of the big city park. She knows that abundant pollen and sweet nectar await her there.
White clover is to grass what clouds are to sky. It is an ancient association. An immemorial pact that arose between two great botanical families, bordered with thousands of species each: the noble and useful grasses (poaceae) and the aristocratic and nutritious legumes (fabaceae). In an admirable tandem, each one brings the best of themselves to the ground. On the one hand, grasses open the soil, pierce it, break it up with their hair of exploring roots, tireless wanderers in the land. On the other hand, legumes contribute their richness to the soil—once they die—since their roots are symbiotically associated with bacteria. This means that, in their own roots, nodules of bacteria grow: two different kingdoms that coexist in harmony, just as happens in the digestive system of many animals and their peculiar intestinal flora.
In the case of white clover, the association occurs with rhizobium bacteria (Rhizobium leguminosarum symbiovar. trifolii). What benefit do these bacteria bring to clover? Well, neither more nor less than the miracle of nitrogen. It is well known that plants need enormous amounts of this element to form leaves and stems, to grow in all their parts, to develop. Plants find this macroelement in the soil, but there is one place extremely rich in nitrogen that is out of reach of their roots. It is the same air. In the air we breathe, almost up to 80% of it is nitrogen in gaseous form. “Oh, if I could take it directly from there, how much it could grow!”, says any plant to itself. Well, for legumes this is a resolved issue, thanks to that symbiotic association already mentioned with bacteria. The latter are capable of absorbing this atmospheric nitrogen and kindly giving it to the plants, through their roots, where the bacteria form their colonies. The plants, in return, provide the bacteria with rich nutrition and shelter them. All parties win. Also the human being, since, thanks to this, we can grow legumes in less fertile places. In those wastelands, bacteria are already responsible for making plants grow beautifully. By the way, these colonies of bacteria are visible to the naked eye if you look at the roots of these legumes. In the case of white clover, tiny nodules are articulated in its fine rootlets.
Let’s go back to the bee. It is about to land on one of the white clover heads. It is such a floriferous plant that it can be in flower almost in any month, which is a relief for many of this small urban fauna, which has white clover as its trusted supermarket. Of European and Asian origin, this plant has spread throughout the world, and wherever there is a meadow or lawn it is easy to find, from Canada to Australia. One of the reasons for this colonizing success has been that it is useful as a forage plant, apart from serving as a natural fertilizer for the land. To achieve the latter, the ground is plowed when the clover reaches its optimal size. When it dies crushed, all the nitrogen that remained in the bodies of the plants and bacteria is released into the soil.
For lovers of pristine lawns, in which only the linear leaves of grasses grow, the simple appearance of a clover bush is a symptom of a bad crop. But there is another side, that of the people who enjoy the meadows, and who enjoy seeing those same grasses mixed with dandelions (Taraxacum officinale), parsnips (Bellis perennis), veronicas (Veronica persica) or plantain (Plantago major). The beauty of clover leaves captivates us since we are children, when we see its small trifoliate leaves appear—made up of three leaflets—with their characteristic white spots. That white color is not due to any special pigment, but rather to a space filled with air that is between the tissues of the leaf. It goes without saying that, when one of those leaves with four leaflets is found, the joy is maximum, and it is usually linked to good fortune, due to how unexpected and rare they are. Only one in every 5,000 leaves has those four venturous leaflets, so you have to keep your eyes sharp. They are lucky lawns that have this beautiful and useful species, which energizes and enriches the garden with its small pollinating animals. Why not have a clover in the pot on the balcony, at the foot of some other plant that is grown?
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