July - Invasive Plant of the Month

Yellow and white sweet clover are annual herbs. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem and each leaf is divided into three oblong leaflets up to one inch long. Stems are upright, branched and smooth. Yellow or white, tubelike flowers are borne in thin spikes. Flowers are produced from June through September and each flower has five petals. The fruit is a pod containing seeds. Yellow and white sweet clover may attain a height of two to seven feet and may be found throughout Illinois along edges of fields and roads. Yellow and white sweet clover is a native of Europe that was brought to this country by early European settlers and has acclimated itself to the Midwest.

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