Feb., 1915.] Clovers of Ohio. 445 



Melilotus (Toum.) Mill. 



Annual or biennial herbs with small white or yellow flowers 

 in slender racemes. Calyx-teeth short, nearly equal ; standard 

 obovate or oblong; wings oblong; keel obtuse. Ovulary sessile 

 or stipitate, few-ovuled; style filiform. Pod ovoid or globose, 

 straight, indehiscent or finally 2-valved. Seeds solitary or 

 few. 



1. Flowers white. M. alba. 



1. Flowers yellow, sometimes pale. 2. 



2. Stipules with entire margin; lateral petals as long as the standard or 



barely shorter. 3. 



2. Stipules toothed at the base; lateral petals as long as the keel, but 



definitely shorter than the standard. AI. indica. 



3. Leaflets rather closely serrate; pod glabrous or glabrate, prominently 



cross-ribbed. M. officinalis. 

 3. Leaflets sub-entire or remotely toothed; pod pubescent, obscurely 

 recticulate. M. altissima. 



1. Melilotus alba Desv. White Sweet-clover. 



Erect or ascending; branching; stem 3-10 ft. high, glabrous, 

 leaves petioled, 2>^ in. long, lyi in. wide; leaflets 1>^ in. long, 

 y^ in. wide, oblong, serrate, narrowed at the base and apex; 

 flowers in racemes, 5-8 in. long, white; pods ovoid. In waste 

 places. Native of Europe. General and abundant. 



2. Melilotus indica (L.) All. Indian Sweet-clover. 



Erect, branching from the root; stem 17 in. long; leaves 

 petioled, 1}% in. long, 1 in. wide; leaflets % in. long, ^ in. wide, 

 oblong, serrate, rounded at the apex; flowers in racemes, yellow, 

 small; pod gibbous. 



3. Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam. Yellow Sweet-clover. 

 Erect, usually tall; branching at the root; leaves 2 in. long, 



1}4 in. wide, petioled; leaflets ^4 in. long, X in- wide, oblong, 

 serrate, apex rounded; flowers in racemes, 4-4^ in. long, ^^ellow. 

 In waste places. Rather general. From Europe. 



4. Melilotus altissima Thuill. Fall Sweet-clover. 



Erect, usually tall, leaflets narrow, nearly entire; pods pubes- 

 cent, gibbous. 



Trifolium (Toum.) L. 



Herbs with ptrrple, pink, red, white or yellow flowers in dense 

 heads or spikes. Stipules united with the petiole. Calyx-teeth 

 nearly equal. Petals commonly persistent, their claws more or 

 less completely united with the stamen-tube. Ovulary sessile 

 or stipitate, few-ovuled. Pod oblong or terete, often included in 

 the calyx, membranous, indehiscent or tardily dehiscent by 

 1 suture, or by a lid, 1-6-seeded. 



