Photographs: Sherkin Island, Co. Cork

Hop Trefoil Trifolium campestre Seamair dhuimhche Family: Fabaceae Flowering time: June-September. Annual. Native. The globular yellow flower-heads are 9-12mm across with 20+ flowers in each head and turn brown in fruit. Single seeds. Trifoliate leaves, the central leaflet with a clearly longer stalk. A more/less hairy plant with semi-erect to procumbent branched stems to 40cm. Grows on dry banks, roadsides, grassland and waste ground but is less frequent in the north and west of Ireland. Similar: Lesser Trefoil, T. dubium and Black Medick, Medicago lupulina

Hop Trefoil, Trifolium campestre, Seamair dhuimhche