Red Clover

Scientific name: Trifolium pratense

Family: Legumes (pea)

Other names: Bee Bread, Meadow Clover.

Medicinal Uses: Infertility, eczema, coughs, lymphatic congestion, cysts, post menopause.

Preperations: Tea, Infusions, Tincture, Vinegar, Salve, Balm, Food

Parts Used: Upper flowering parts

I think of this ally as the herb of fertility, rising from the earth in glorious shaped leaves, with a bird in flight printed on each one.

When in bloom, many pink trumpet-like flowers erupt together in a glorious pompom that reminds me of ovaries bursting into sweet life on top of the green stems.

Red Clover is most often seen in fields, parks, meadows and along roadsides.

The bright pink blossoms lasting from mid-summer into the the misty autumn days of early October. Bees, butterflies and furry bumble bees love to be around the blooms, drinking in

the sweet, nourishing nectar.

Clover is a member of the Pea family and has three leaves. As with many three leaved plants in pre Christian times, Clover was seen as sacred; the leaves representing the triple goddess aspect (mother, maiden, crone) and once christianity took hold the meaning was then changed to represent the holy trinity.

Clover is often grown to fix nitrogen in the soil and feed cattle, keeping both the earth, her animals and creatures healthy wherever this plant grows.

Red Clover as food

Many an adult has told me, how as a child, they would suck the beautiful sweet flowers, often called little clover trumpets. Or just delicately hold them on their tongue to get a little drop of sweet flavour from them.

The blossoms, when eaten raw, have a gentle and sweet taste, that can sometimes be a little beany too. They are lovely in salads, as are the leaves. When cooked the flowers often work well with rice, but I find they lose their flavour dramatically and so work when paired with more flavourful plants and herbs. I find that the flavour and sweetness does not last when preserving or drying.

Eating Red Clover will bring you a rich source of many wonderful nutrients such as calcium, chromium, phosphorus, magnesium, niacin, thiamine, potassium, and vitamin C. It is also considered to be one of the most potent sources of isoflavones (water-soluble chemicals that act like estrogens and are found in many plants).

Red Clover as Medicine

Red Clover is a nourishing blood purifying herb that when used as a strong infusion can bring back a glow to the skin and feelings of improved and enlivened well being.

This plant is a brilliant fertility-increasing plant and a fantastic ally for women through all aspects of the female journey; for those who are wanting to conceive, for the menstrual / moon time cycle, or who are going through peri menopause and the menopause.

This plant works especially well in an infusion.

To make the infusion, use around 30g of dried herb, double if fresh. Place the herbs into a litre/quart jar. Cover with boiling water and place a lid on top.

Leave to infuse for 4 - 8 hours or overnight.

Strain and drink thought the day.

This infusion works well when mixed with a little Spearmint.

The infusion is good medicine for unexplained fertility problems, unbalanced cycles.

Because Red Clover works in a food based way, as a nourishing herb, it can take many months to start to notice the difference. Red Clover is best used daily for 3-6 months when preparing for pregnancy and to help detoxify the body of environmental pollutants before conception.

During the menopause Red Clover decreases uncomfortable symptoms, keeping women flexible and juicy whilst also decreasing feelings of depression and anxiety, slowing down bone loss and boosting bone mineral density while often bringing a welcome reduction in hot flashes.

Energetically Red Clover is sweet, salty and cool with alterative, antispasmodic, nutritive and expectorant properties.

Alterative; meaning likely or able to alter someone towards health, another way to look at alterative herbs is as a herb that helps the body get rid of metabolic waste. Because of this quality, Red Clover is great for skin conditions whether used internally or externally.

Helping deal with acne, eczema, psoriasis and lymphatic swellings. This ally combines well for this, with Nettles, Dandelion, Chickweed and Burdock.

As an antispasmodic (used to relieve spasm of involuntary muscle) and an expectorant (a medicine which promotes the secretion of sputum by the air passages, used to treat coughs)

Red clover is used to calm fevers, sooth inflamed lungs, and works well with coughs as it has a mild sedative quality. For this I like to make a tea which you can add raw honey to or vegan alternative.

Red Clover can be used to help remove waste products from the body due its blood purifying qualities and works well with eczema, psoriasis and other skin irritations especially when mixed with Nettle both internally and externally.

This is a wonderful pom pom ovary looking bee attracting plant that I would encourage you to get to know, the firework pink trumpet flowers are a joy to humans and bees, looking beautiful in the lawn, in the teapot and in the body.

IMPORTANT NOTES:  Some concern over mixing with hormone treatments.