Five-leaved Clover 341 



anomaly. But when plants with two or more 

 quaternate leaves on the same individual are 

 chosen it indicates that it belongs to a definite 

 race, which under suitable conditions may 

 prove to become very rich in the anomalies in 

 question. 



Obviously it is not always easy to decide 

 definitely whether a given individual belongs to 

 such a race or not. Many trials may be neces- 

 sary to secure the special race. I had the good 

 fortune to find two plants of clover, bearing one 

 quinate and several quaternate leaves, on an 

 excursion in the neighborhood of Loosdrecht in 

 Holland. After transplanting them into my 

 garden, I cultivated them during three years 

 and observed a slowly increasing number of 

 anomalous leaves. This number in one summer 

 amounted to 46 quaternate and 16 quinate 

 leaves, and it was evident that I had secured an 

 instance of the rare '' five-leaved " race which 

 I am about to describe. 



Before doing so it seems desirable to look 

 somewhat closer into the morphological fea- 

 tures of the problem. Pinnate and palmate 

 leaves often vary in the number of their parts. 

 This variability is generally of the nature of a 

 common fluctuation, the deviations grouping 

 themselves around an average type in the ordi- 

 nary way. Ash leaves bear five pairs, and 



