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three Species of Trifolium 207 
any preceding author. But in thethird edition we find quoted fuch as 
have intended the Trifol alpefire.. Ruppius has done the fame, re- 
marking at the fame time that his Trifolium fer? fimile of illi quod feri- 
dur in agris ad jumentorum pabulum; and thus it can be no other than 
the medium. "Yournefort and Boerhaave, as ufual, have no defcrip- 
tion, and confequently we cannot judge but from their quotations ; 
and if they knew the meaning of their authors, they certainly in- 
tended the z/22//re. Yet Boerhaave has added Mori/ 2. 139. 1, which 
is certainly an error, as Morifon there treats of Trifol. rubens B. 
Among recent authors, I mean fuch as wrote after the reforma- 
‘tion of botany by Linnzus, and until he named the 77; fol. alpeffre, 
T have ftudied Van Royen, Haller, Scopoli, and Hudfon. The firft 
of thefe has given us only the fpecific differences of his plants, 
which afford no great information; but ftill, in calling its fola 
evate-oblonga, integerrima, he fcems rather to hint at the Trifol. medium. 
That Haller, Scopoli, and Hudfon had alfo this in view; is beyond a 
doubt, as I fhall foon prove. I will juft obferve here, that Haller, 
under this head, has not only brought in feveral varieties, which 
indeed I have not feen, but that appear to be different fpecies; but, — 
according to his ufual praétice, has anjudicioufly huddled together 
a vaft number of fynonyms, particularly in his Stirpes Helveticæ, 
which belong to at leaft three feparate fpecies of Trifolium, viz. 
rubens B, alpefiré, and medium. | 
Nearly the fame confufion is obfervable in his edition of 
Ruppius; for, after having copied the above-mentioned defcription 
of Trifol. medium by that author, he adds a circumftance that belongs 
tothe rubens: 1 have at leaft not yet feen any fpecies befides this 
laft, of which it can be faid, vaginis petiolorum floralium latioribus à 
vulgari pratenfi differt. "That Haller alfo really meant the rubens, I am 
further induced to pi from his having, in this edition, left out 
— Grifolium 
