Foothills, montane.  Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, April 26, 2007.

Trifolium gymnocarpum spreads four or five inches along the ground but grows no more than an inch or two tall.  It is common to find many plants near each other.  Leaves probably first attract attention, for the flowers blend in with the soils that they rest on.

Thomas Nuttall first collected this plant on the "dry hills of the Rocky Mountain range, near the sources of the Sweetwater of the Platte" in 1834 and named the plant in a publication of Torrey and Gray in 1838.  (Quotation from Intermountain Flora.)

Foothills, montane.  Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, April 26, 2007.

Foothills, montane.  Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, April 26, 2007.

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows. Spring, summer.
Kilpacker Trail, August 1, 2000.

From city parks to front lawns to mountain meadows to pastures, White Clover makes itself known and at home. It spreads on rooting runners in large mats across the ground and puts out abundant, long lasting, sweet smelling flowers. This and other clovers are food for horses and cattle, bees, and many wild critters.

Trifolium repens is a native of Eurasia but is now found in all temperate climates.

Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  "Repens" is Latin for "creeping".