212 7 Mr. ArzeLiuss Account of 
2. Trifolium medium. 
Although Tam but little furprifed at the earlier authors having 
fometimes miftaken the Trifol: rubens for alpefire, 1 very much won- 
der that the modern ones could confound a/peffre with medium, or 
regard this latter as the true a/fefre. Neverthelefs this has fre- 
quently been the cafe; for, after it had been named by Linnzus, I have 
found about twenty authors mentioning a Trifolium which they call 
alpeftre, only two or perhaps three of whom, as I have faid above, 
may with certainty be affirmed to have treated of the genuine one. 
-Moft of the reft, to judge. by their writings, have had the Trifol. 
medium in view, though, exclufive of its ftipulæ and the character- 
iftics common to the whole genus, it bears very {mall refemblance 
to the a/feffre: for its ftem is flexuofe, angular and branched; the 
footftalks longer and divaricated; the leaves broader; the fpikes 
generally pedunculated; calyx moftly fmooth, and its teeth larger, 
&c. Whereas the Trifol. alpeftre has a ftraight, round, and fimple 
ftem; fhort and erect footftalks; narrow and ftrongly veined leaves; 
— fpikes conftantly {efile ; a calyx always downy, and all over of the 
fame colour; its teeth fhorter than thofe of the medium, but the 
lowermoft one is preportionspy longer. 
3. Trifalium pratenfe. 
Linnzus fays of Trifol. alpefire that it is ramis copiofifimis luxurians 
in fatis... But I am confident he never faw either the 4/peffre or the 
medium in a cultivated ftate; and confequently that by this expreffion 
he points at the prafenfe, which is commonly cultivated in Sweden 
as well as other countries; and, through cultivation, varies into 
{fuch a refemblance to Trifol. medium, that, without ftrict and mi- 
nute examination, they can hardly be diftinguifhed. Still the pra- 
tenfe has always caules bafi ad/cendentes, and they are not flexuofe; 
branches 
