White Clover
Representative of legumes that cause bloat

Latin Name: Trifolium repens

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Spreads by stolons (runners at ground surface)
  • White "V" (called watermarks) often found on leaflets
  • Each petiole has three small leaflets (sometimes four if you're lucky!) attached at a common point (palmately compound trifoliolate)
  • Produces white to pinkish-white flowers that together forms a head inflorescence
  • Can reach 1-2 ft tall
  • No pubescence (small hairs)

Plant Longevity:

  • Perennial

Where Commonly Found:

  • Pastures
  • Lawns
  • Roadsides
  • Waste areas

Time of Most Concern:

  • Pre-bud and bloom stages

Compound that Causes Concern:

  • Gases of fermentation when grazing lush legumes that do not have tannins

Part of Plant Most Toxic:

  • All green parts, especially after a rain and dew on plants

Livestock Species Affected:

  • Cattle
  • Sheep
  • Goats

Pasture, Stored Feed, Both:

  • Pasture most common

Clinical Signs:

  • Bloat (overdistention of the rumenoreticulum, two compartments of the ruminant's stomach)
  • Drooling
  • Aggression

Amount Needed to be Consumed for Clinical Signs / Death:

  • 1-5% of animal's body weight must be consumed

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Spreads by stolons (runners at ground surface)
  • White "V" (called watermarks) often found on leaflets
  • Each petiole has three small leaflets (sometimes four if you're lucky!) attached at a common point (palmately compound trifoliolate)
  • Produces white to pinkish-white flowers that together forms a head inflorescence
  • Can reach 1-2 ft tall
  • No pubescence (small hairs)

Plant Longevity:

  • Perennial

Where Commonly Found:

  • Pastures
  • Lawns
  • Roadsides
  • Waste areas

Time of Most Concern:

  • Pre-bud and bloom stages

Compound that Causes Concern:

  • Gases of fermentation when grazing lush legumes that do not have tannins

Part of Plant Most Toxic:

  • All green parts, especially after a rain and dew on plants

Livestock Species Affected:

  • Cattle
  • Sheep
  • Goats

Pasture, Stored Feed, Both:

  • Pasture most common

Clinical Signs:

  • Bloat (overdistention of the rumenoreticulum, two compartments of the ruminant's stomach)
  • Drooling
  • Aggression

Amount Needed to be Consumed for Clinical Signs / Death:

  • 1-5% of animal's body weight must be consumed
Toxic Plants Home Alsike Clover Black Cherry Buttercup Carolina Horsenettle Cocklebur Common Milkweed Cressleaf Groundsel Dallisgrass Eastern Black Nightshade Hemp Dogbane Jimsonweed Johnsongrass Perilla Mint Poison Hemlock Pokeweed Redroot Pigweed Star of Bethlehem Tall Fescue White Clover White Snakeroot Yew