Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) · Herb Profile

At a glance

Botanical name: Trifolium pratense
Family: Fabaceae
Part used: Flower
Taste: Sweet
Temperature: Cool
Moisture: Moist

On moisture, Gerard (1633) and Culpeper (1653) read it as dry. The app keeps moist, the modern reading of what the herb does in the body; the old readings are shown here but do not change it.

Safety at a glance

In pregnancy

Avoid — phytoestrogenic

While breastfeeding

Phytoestrogen content. Avoid red clover while breastfeeding (MSKCC); red clover supplements may be unsafe while breastfeeding (NCCIH).

For children

Avoid therapeutic doses under 12

Cautions

Avoid with estrogen-sensitive conditions; anticoagulant caution

General contraindications

Avoid — phytoestrogenic

Stewardship

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) is cultivated for forage and medicine; nitrogen-fixing. Stewardship: a nitrogen-fixer medicine — the plant that gives to the soil is also the plant that gives to the body.

In the traditional record

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) — the trefoil leaf was used by St. Patrick (5th century) as a teaching emblem of the Trinity in Ireland; a long-standing European folk alterative recorded by Culpeper, and noted by the Eclectics as a gentle blood-cleanser for skin conditions and as a folk remedy in cancer therapeutics.

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Educational use

The Apothecary is educational and does not constitute medical advice. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a diagnosed condition.

On our sources

These entries draw on public-domain materia medica, most of it published before 1900, alongside a smaller number of modern reference works. Energetic qualities such as warming, cooling, drying and moistening are a traditional framework for describing how a plant behaves in the body, not a laboratory measurement. Where a period source states one, we cite it. Where none does, and for many North American herbs none exists, the value reflects modern herbal consensus rather than a historical text. When we cannot support a caution with real evidence, we say nothing rather than guess.