Perennial herbaceous plant 20-50 cm high. Taproot, branched, often with nodules of nitrogen-assimilating bacteria. The main stem is shortened, flowering stems with sessile trifoliate leaves emerge from the axil of basal, long-leaved leaves. Leaflets of the lower leaves are ovate, finely serrated along the edge, the upper ones are oblong, almost entire-extreme. Stipules fused at base. The flowers are irregular, pink or red, in capitate inflorescences, at the base in the last two leaves are brought together. The fruit is a bean. Blooms from May to September.
Medicinal raw materials are inflorescences of the head with apical leaves, collected during flowering. The smell is absent, the taste is sweet, astringent.
Clover flowers contain vitamin C, carotene, essential oil, glycosides – trifolin and isotrifolin, fatty oils.
It is used in folk medicine. Clover in the form of a decoction is used for pulmonary diseases, anemia, loss of strength, weight loss, nutritional decline, malignant tumors, bronchial asthma, rapid breathing, as an expectorant, diuretic and antiseptic, and is also used (drink like tea) for fever, colds and chronic rheumatism, also in diseases of the kidneys.
Outwardly (in the form of poultices) it is recommended to be used as an emollient and analgesic for burns and abscesses. The juice of fresh grass is used as a wound-healing agent, with scrofula, the eyes are washed. A decoction of the leaves with salt is used to moisten the head for headaches. Leafy tops, collected during flowering, are used for atherosclerosis with normal blood pressure, accompanied by headaches and tinnitus.
Application
Vodka tincture: 40 g per 0.5 l of 40% alcohol, insist 10 days, filter and take 20 ml before dinner or at bedtime for atherosclerosis.
The course of treatment is 3 months with a break of 10 days. You can repeat after 6 months.
Decoction 1: 20 g per 200 ml, 1-2 tbsp. spoons after 2-4 hours with cystitis.
Decoction 2: 20 g per 200 ml or tea 2-3 tbsp. spoons or half a glass 3 times every day or 1-2 tbsp. spoons per glass, brew as tea, take 2 tbsp. spoons 2-3 times every day for anemia, hypovitaminosis C.
When grazing on meadow clover, poisoning of animals (pigs) is possible. The cause of poisoning is hydrocyanic acid formed in the plant.