Fight's on to save a lowly but rare clover

To the whale, the eagle, the snail darter and the planet, add"Save the Clover!"

That's what the federal government is trying to do for the lowlyLeafy Prairie Clover, known to botanists and Latin language teachersas dalea foliosa.

Found only in a few patches in Tennessee, Alabama - and in WillCounty along the Des Plaines River - the purple-flowered plant isbeing considered for endangered species designation.

Done in by bulldozers and other beasts of modern man, the LeafyPrairie Clover would have a better chance if it were named anendangered species, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologistRobert Currie.

Though being so designated would not prevent its destruction byprivate industry, any project using federal money that might injurethe plant would be prohibited, Currie said. Funds for research

Federal money also would be available for research on the plantand aquiring land where it grows, said Currie.

As Chicago marks the 20th anniversary of Earth Day today, anobservance that includes a daylong concert in Lincoln Park,environmentalists are hoping to bring attention to the clover'splight.

Actually more a pea than a clover, the plant should be protectedbecause "we know very little about how the whole family of natureworks," Currie said. "Anything taken away from that system would be amistake."

Once found growing in La Salle, Kane, Ogle, Boone and Kankakeecounties, the plant has only one home in Illinois today - Will. Inthe late 1880s, the clover grew wild in Kankakee until a scientistdug up most of the plants and took them back east to study, said JohnSchwegman, Botany program manager for the Illinois ConservationDepartment.

This year, the state is attempting to reintroduce the clover tothe Kankakee River Nature Preserve, Schwegman said. Found at 3 sites

In Will County, the plant can be found in the Lockport andRomeoville Prairie Nature Preserves, and at a site just north ofRomeoville, said Marcella De Mauro, a Will County Forest Preservenatural resource manager.

De Mauro said there are only about a dozen places in the worldwhere the clover grows.

She said that when the 18-inch-high plant's thimble-shapedflower head blooms in late summer, the clover is quite attractive.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comment ondalea foliosa until May 29 and will make its decision on theendangered species designation later this year. Comments should bedirected to the service field supervisor at 100 Otis, Room 224,Asheville, N.C. 28801.