Native to north Atlantic and central Europe, the Mediterranean region, Balkans, Asia Minor, Iran, India, Himalayas, Russia from Arctic south to east Siberia, Caucasus, and the Far East. It spread to England ca 1650 and was carried to America by British colonists.
Extensively grown for pasturage, hay and green manure, considered excellent forage for livestock and poultry. Compared with alfalfa, red clover has about two-thirds as much digestible protein, slightly more total digestible nutrients, and slightly higher net energy value. The best approximation to vegetable boullion I ever made consisted of red clover and chicory flowers, boiled vigorously with wild onion and chives. Red-clover flowers are reported to possess antispasmodic, estrogenic, and expectorant properties.
Through LC-MS comparative studies on the plant extracts, 20 flavonoid glycoside malonates were detected in the flower extract. The study also found that the flowers contained flavones as the major flavonoids, whereas the leaves had isoflavones as the major flavonoids.