January 2026

Inner Ocean & Well Being

• The Inner Ocean – The Role Of Water In Growing Health
• Calendula – Wound Healing Magician
• Burdock – Nourishing & Moistening
• Red Clover – Finding Hormonal Balance

Red clover was one of my favourite cover crops (the other was oats). Unlike oats, red clover is a perennial that blooms only in its second year. However, when it blooms, it is a gorgeous plant that attracts bees. The beds covered with red clover were always humming a soothing song in the sun.

Red Clover – Finding Harmony & Balance

Family: Fabaceae 

Parts Used: Flowering tops 

Degree: 1st degree food like herb.

Description

Clover is a low bush, 1-2 feet high, that rises from one root. The leaves are divided into three leaflets, ovate and smooth, ending in an elongated point. Flowers are red and purple globules, fragrant, and clustered at the end of the stem. 

Growing red clover

Red clover is a fast-growing herb that can become invasive. It will grow well in full sun, well-drained soil, and moderate temperatures. Here in New Hampshire, growing zone 5, red clover is a short-lived perennial, meaning it will grow back in the spring for three to four years. Harvest the blossoms in the spring when they are fresh and vital. 

Energetic Architecture:

Ruling Planet

Red clover is associated with Venus and the qualities of beauty and harmony that are represented in red clover blossoms.

The doctrine of signatures, a traditional philosophy that suggests that plants’ shapes, colors, textures, and habitats can point to their medicinal properties, links red clover three-leafed to the two ovaries and the uterus. Red clover and Venus are thus associated with the women’s reproductive system.

Ruling Element

As an alterative and lymphatic red clover is associated with the water element. It is an amphoteric herb that can moisten dry, atrophic tissue and dry damp, stagnant conditions. 

Alchemical principle

Red clover, as Mercury stands in the middle. It sends its delicate blossoms toward the light of the sun while digging long roots into the ground, loosening the soil and enlivening it. 

As a medicine, red clover is a balancing herb, both drying and moistening, and is used for both excess and deficient estrogen. 

Taste

Trifolium is a sweet, and salty aromatic herb known for its nourishing anabolic qualities. It is rich in nutrients, including calcium, chromium, magnesium, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, thiamine, and vitamin C.

Energetics

Temperature:  slightly cooling

Fluids: Red clover moves fluids; as such, it can be drying to tissues in one area of the body while moistening others.

Tone: Harmonizing

Tissue state

Red clover benefits people with dry atrophy, damp stagnation, and tense tissue states. 

The dry atrophy tissue state tends to manifest in the body as weakness and malnourishment, because the fluids that carry nutrients and clear out toxins are stagnant. Red clover removes obstructions from the lymphatic flow, alleviating damp stagnation.

The  polysaccharide  constituents of red clover moisten the mucosa, thus softening dry, leathery tissue that might be tense because of its dryness. 

Pharmacology

• Isoflavones: phytoestrogens such as biochanin A, formononetin, genistein, and daidzein.
• Flavonoids: glycosides with antioxidant effects
• Coumarins: May influence blood coagulation.
• Saponins: support healthy mucosa
• Phenolic Compounds: block estrogen receptors and act as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant.
• Polysaccharides: poly: Mucilaginous compounds and Oligosaccharides provide a gentle cooling and moistening effect. 
• Volatile Oil and Salicylates: Flowers contain a volatile oil, including methyl salicylate. 

 Actions

Foundational actions are associated with the energetic pattern and can be experienced viscerally in the body.

Red clover’s foundational action is a demulcent due to the polysaccharides it contains.

Primary actions relate to organs, systems, or tissues.

Red clover’s primary actions are:

• Sialagogues – red clover balances saliva production. In a dry mouth, it will stimulate saliva production; in a damp mouth and throat, where mucus can induce an irritating cough, it will reduce the dampness.
• Nutrative – Red clover is among our most nutrient-dense herbs. It is rich in protein, vitamin C, a spectrum of B vitamins, calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and more.
• The nutrients in red clover are mostly water-soluble, suggesting that the preferred method of preparation is water extraction.
• Alteratives are herbs that promote fluid metabolism, thereby increasing nutrient absorption and the removal of toxins from the interstitial matrix.

Organ affinity

Red Clover has an affinity for the  lungs, kidneys, skin, and blood/lymph. 

As a lymphatic alterative, red clover has a specific affinity to lymph nodes, tonsils, adenoids, parotids, and salivary glands, where it reduces swelling and drains congestion. 

Red clover’s alterative actions on the lymph and blood help to clear chronic skin conditions such as eczema, dermatitis, acne, and boils.

Clinical patterns

When I think of red clover, the first word that comes to mind is ‘harmonizer’. It tunes down metabolic processes when they are too much, and amplifies them when they are just a whisper.

When I refer to metabolism, I include both anabolic processes, the assimilation and distribution of nutrients, and catabolic processes, the breakdown and removal of waste products. 

It is important to clarify that by waste products, I refer not just to chemical toxins that enter the body with the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Instead, I factor in endotoxins such as dead cells, dead pathogens, and free radicals produced by cellular energy production. 

Reproductive harmony

Phytoestrogen

The Isoflavones in red clover are phytoestrogens, meaning that in the body they bind to estrogen receptors. However, their estrogenic effects are weaker than those of our endogenous estrogen. By blocking estrogen receptors, they reduce the body’s overall estrogen response. 

In women with low estrogen levels, phytoestrogens in red clover can increase overall estrogenic effects. 

To achieve the desirable effects of phytoestrogen, they need to be converted by the gut microbiome. In women with imbalances in gut flora, there is decreased metabolism of  phytoestrogens in the gut, and the herb may not work as expected.”

Alterative

As an alterative herb with an affinity to the lymphatic and blood system, red clover is indicated for cysts, both ovarian and breast cysts. that hardened. Herbalist Dorothy Hall describes a process in which the body engulfs a swelling, calcifies it, and separates it from the body. A swollen cyst can persist for years, but when it ruptures, it releases toxins that can cause fever and fatigue. Red clover can reduce swelling and remove toxins.

Other conditions of tissue build-up in the women’s reproductive system, such as fibroids and endometriosis, can benefit from the regulation of estrogen levels alongside herbs such as Red Clover (Trifolium pratense),  Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus), and Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)

Red clover might assist in  cervical dysplasia, a condition that involves abnormal cell changes on the cervix, usually caused by persistent HPV infection, and is considered precancerous. Herbalist Feather Jones, RH, AHG writes:

“Michael Moore suggests another common cause of CIN is diminished estrogen available to cervical mucous membranes or candida, or bacterial vaginosis if allowed to persist. If it is low estrogen stores, herbal treatments with dong quai, liver tonics, and immune support are needed.”

For cervical dysplasia, combine red clover with ineffective alteratives such as echinacea and calendula, immune-modulating herbs such as reishi and astragalus, diuretics such as cleavers and dandelion root, and demulcents.

In menopause

Studies show that red clover reduced the daily incidence of hot flashes in premenopausal and menopausal women receiving active treatment compared with those receiving a placebo. Red clover was found to improve bone density, lipid metabolism, mood, and cognitive symptoms without side effects in postmenopausal women. 

Skin conditions

Red clover is indicated for skin conditions, specifically when the skin is dry and flaky. 

Immune system

Trifolium can be beneficial whenever there is an infection or post infection condition where the lymph nodes are swollen, slow, sluggish toxin metabolism that presents as a feeling of “not quite well.” You feel on the mend but not fully yourself. This presentation indicates that the body is still cleansing metabolic waste, dead immune cells, and dead viruses or bacteria. 

Lymph nodes play a crucial role in filtering waste products and in hosting immune cells, such as macrophages and B and T cells. Red clover is best applied to the neck, throat, and underarms, and is especially useful for mastitis, tonsillitis, and salivary gland congestion. 

In leaky gut, when the gut epithelium is structurally damaged, red clover can help the body eliminate excess metabolic waste associated with inflammation. 

Respiratory system

Being a lymphatic alterative alongside an excellent moistening, relaxing expectorant, is a very useful combination in conditions of a hot, dry, and irritated cough. When wheezing, coughing, and difficulty breathing occur due to mucosal membrane irritation. There is oftentimes a degree of tension, spasm, and heat in the tissue. 

Red clover is also beneficial for clear, thin, watery mucus dripping from the sinuses or the bronchitis.   

Rolla Thomas recommends an infusion of red clover for spasmodic cough, whooping cough, and measles cough. 

Preparation and dosage

I prefer to use alteratives and lymphatics in tea because they work on the fluid element; it makes sense to me. Red clover is sweet and tastes good in tea.

Trifolium is a gentle remedy that should be used consistently for 6 weeks.

Standard infusion: 15 grams in 1/2 liter of water

Tincture: Dried flowers (1:5, 40%A), 1-5ml (0.5-1 tsp) 3 times daily.

Glycerite: Dried flowers (1:8), 5-10 ml 3 times a day

Safety considerations

Red clover is generally safe.

Avoid people on blood thinners or people susceptible to bleeding problems. 

Large doses of red clover should be avoided in estrogen dominant women or women on antihormonal medication such as tamoxifen.

Avoid red clover before surgery, as it has a blood thinning effect. 

Red clover shouldn’t be used with pharmaceutical blood thinners, as it contains coumarins that have a blood-thinning effect.

Avoid during pregnancy due to its estrogenic effect.

Recipes for remedies