Thanks Carol, I believe you're correct!

whats scary about it???

the common name is clover .. and billions of dollars a year are spent by the lawn warriors to eradicate it in a perfect lawn ... that used to be me in suburbia ... lol

on 5 rural acres with sand.. frankly.,... its one of the few thing in my mowed meadow i call a lawn ... that is actually green in july and august ...

the only downside was when the kids were smaller.. and shoe-less .. all the bees at bloom time might not appreciate a kid running thru it at warp speed .. so i just taught them to run around the bigger patches ...

its probably listed all all weed and feed lawn fert bags .. and there used to be sprays for such weeds .. if you didnt want all that fert on your lawn ... but i havent dealt with it in 25 years.. so im not sure what the current products are ...

anyway.. nothing to be afraid of.. just another garden job ... and no.. you arent going to win by trying to pull it all out ...

ken

i hate when i forget the link ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Medicago+polymorpha&ia=web

one of those links seem to suggest it might be invasive in CA

It's not clover....that is an entirely different plant! Burr medic is a nasty weed to have in the lawn. It produces very prickly burrs that are painful to pets, kids playing or any bare feet. It also produces a tap root as well as rooting along the nodes of its sprawling stems. Hard to remove manually and naturally resistant to a number of herbicides. Weed B Gone or triclopyr are likely to be your best bets.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/weeds/burr-medic-weed.htm