Red clover
Trifolium Pratense

Appearance: 10 to 50 cm tall. Stem going up, hairy; leaves eggshaped, edges entire, the upper side often has a light or dark V-shaped spot, stipules eggshaped with a pointy top; flowers in bud till their eggshaped heads, red or pink; calyx hairy on the outside.

Landscape: fields, verges of roads.

Flowering time: Mai-October

Care: red clover needs little care and will grow easily once sown.

Use: Mix the leaves through a salad. The fresh or dried flowers make a tea that strengthens the nerve system, lead away water and thins the blood. The tea helps to enjoy life more and gives optimism and confidence, it is a tonic after serious ilnesses. It can aid in recovery or at least the slowing down of a slow course of diseases that include unrigging, like multiple sclerosis. Red clover makes the blood less sour and helps against the swelling of the glands due to fatigue. Clover gives appetite. A tea of fresh flowers gives relief with asthma, bronchitis and coughing (ad a bit of honey for sweetness). Put a compress of fresh flowers on a wound or sore. For this you can also use a decoction (fluid left after boiling the plant in water) or a salve made in the following way:
fill a copper kettle with red-clover flowers and cover these with water. Boil for an hour, sift and press. This is boiled again with fresh flowers, again an hour long and then sifted through a cloth. This is slowly heated till it is like a salve, be careful not to burn it. This salve works well on wounds but also with dry skin and lips.

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