White clover Coloring Pages

White flowers spreading all over the schoolyard

White clover is a plant that spreads all over the edges of schoolyards and park lawns. From spring to autumn, it blooms with lots of round, bright white flowers.
You might know it better by the name "clover." Many of you have probably looked for a four-leaf clover before, right? That plant is White clover.

The name comes from "packing grass"

If you write White clover in kanji, it uses the characters for white packing grass. It sounds like a strange name, doesn't it? But there is a very good reason for this word "packing."
Long ago, glass containers were brought to Japan by ship from Europe. Glass breaks easily, so people packed soft things into the empty spaces so the glass would not shake in the box. The cushion they used was dried clover.
Records show that in 1846, it was packed in with glass items sent as gifts from the Netherlands. It had the same job as the packing material inside cardboard boxes today.
From that, the name "packing grass" was born, and the kind with white flowers came to be called "White clover." Isn't it surprising that a plant brought here to protect glass has now spread to schoolyards all over Japan?

The round flower is a group of tiny flowers

Let's look closely at the round white flower. It looks like one single flower, but it is actually a group of many tiny flowers gathered together.
There are 10 to 80 tiny flowers in one head! It is about 1 centimeter across. On the coloring page, each small flower is drawn one by one, so try counting them.
The blooming order is very interesting. The flowers at the top bloom first, and when they finish blooming, they hang down facing the ground. So, if you see brownish flowers hanging down near the bottom, that flower has been blooming for a long time.

White markings on the three leaves

The leaves grow in sets of 3. This is the best sign to spot White clover. Each small leaf is round like a heart, with a small dip at the tip.
If you look closely at the leaves, you can see whitish V-shaped markings on them. Thanks to these markings, you can tell it is White clover even from far away. These markings are drawn with lines on the coloring page too.

How are four-leaf clovers made?

Very rarely, you can find one with 4 leaves. This is a four-leaf clover. All over the world, people love it and say it brings good luck.
A four-leaf clover is made by a little change when the starting part of the leaf is growing. So, it is easier to find them in places where a lot of clover grows. Squat down and look slowly, turning over the overlapping leaves one by one.

Spreading more and more by creeping on the ground

Instead of growing tall, White clover spreads by creeping its stems along the ground. It grows roots from different parts of these stems, and new leaves and flowers grow up from there.
That is why once it starts growing, it covers the ground just like a carpet. It came from Europe at first. Around the Meiji period, a lot of it was planted in Japan as food for cows and horses (pasture grass), and it spread all across the country from there.

Keep the White Pattern on the Leaves

The coolest part of this coloring page is the white shape on the leaves that looks like the letter "V". It is drawn with lines, so leave the inside white and color only around it in green.
If you do this, the pattern will pop out and look just like a real White clover! Be careful, because if you color the whole leaf green, the pattern will disappear.

Leave the Flowers White

White clover flowers are pure white. So, the prettiest way to color them is to leave them white without coloring.
If that feels a bit plain, try tracing just the edges of each small flower with light gray or light blue. It will make the white flowers look round and real!
Coloring the bottom of the flowers light yellow-green makes them look natural, too.

Color Finished Flowers Brown

At the bottom of the flower cluster, you can see some flowers drooping downward. These are flowers that have already finished blooming.
If you color them light brown or beige, your picture will show that the top flowers just bloomed and the bottom ones are done. It makes your picture look really neat!

Use 3 Greens for the Leaves

White clover leaves in front look bright green, and leaves underneath look dark green. If you use 3 colors—yellow-green, green, and dark green—from front to back, it will look like a soft carpet of leaves!
This works super well on the second picture with lots of plants. Color the ground and pebbles light beige, then color the grass nicely to make the White clover stand out.

Draw Your Own Four-Leaf Clover

Now it is time to play! Pick one three-leaf clover on this coloring page and draw one more leaf to make it a four-leaf clover.
Where will you hide it? It is all up to you! When you finish coloring, ask someone, "Where is the four-leaf clover?" That will be so much fun! After that, take this picture to your schoolyard. A real four-leaf clover is surely waiting for you!

It Came to Japan as a Glass Cushion

White clover came to Japan near the end of the Edo period. In 1846, it is said that dried clover was stuffed as packing material inside boxes of glassware sent from the Netherlands.
In other words, at first it did not cross the sea as a "plant", but as a material to fill gaps in packages. Some of it sprouted in Japanese soil, and now it is a plant you can see in schoolyards all over the country. Its Japanese name "Tsumekusa" (packing herb) still keeps the memory of that time!

One Flower Cluster Has 80 Flowers

That white round ball is not just one flower. 10 to 80 tiny flowers gather together to make a ball about 1 centimeter across.
Each small flower is shaped like a butterfly, just like other members of the bean family. If you look through a magnifying glass, it looks like a bunch of tiny sweet peas packed tightly together!

A Plant You Can Use to Make Flower Crowns

People have loved using White clover for playing with plants for a long time. If you braid the long stems together, you can make flower crowns, necklaces, and bracelets.
The trick is to pick flowers with stems that are as long as possible. Make a small slit in the middle of a stem, then push the stem of the next flower through it, and they will connect easily! If you find a lot of them in your schoolyard, give it a try!

It Is Actually a Feast for Cows and Horses

White clover was originally a plant from Europe, and people started planting a lot of it in Japan from the Meiji period. The reason was to use it as pasture grass. It was a delicious, nutrient-rich feast for cows and horses!
On top of that, because it is in the bean family, its roots help make the soil rich. The plant that gets stepped on in the corner of your schoolyard actually fed farm animals and made the soil healthy, too! It makes you see it a little differently, doesn't it?