On the systematic position of Red Clover (Trifolium Pratense L.)

Abstract

During about two centuries, Trifolium pratense L. has been growing in Romania turning from a spontaneous plant to an intensely cultivated species. Parallelly with the intense cultivation, with breeding and variability studies, there have been formed and differentiated under cultivation - within the ecological conditions of Transylvania -, some valuable ecotypes, characteristic to specific climatic and geographic zones. The local populations taken under cultivation from the spontaneous flora, as well as from seed imported from abroad, have contributed, beginning with the end of the 19-th century, to the formation of these ecotypes generally and collectively known under the name of "Transylvanian Red Clover" (7).