CLOVER 



Pistil. — Ovary one, developing into a pod producing 

 one to six seeds. 



Pollinated by bees. Nectar-bearing. Stamens mature 

 before the stigma. 



The Clovers share with the Buttercup and the Daisy 

 in the homely regard of the northern races. Two, 

 the White and the Red, are the ones ordinarily meant 

 when we speak of Clovers, but there are others. The 

 Alsike, a pink hybrid, has joined their number in popu- 

 lar favor. A tall, stout species developed from the Red 

 is sometimes found climbing the fence with a zigzag 

 stem five feet high. The Yellow Clover at times takes 

 possession of long reaches of upland roadsides in New 

 York and New England. Two tiny Hop-Clovers with 

 small yellow flowers run along the roadsides in among 

 low grass and weeds. Rabbit-Foot Clover at first 

 seems quite different from the others but in the last 

 analysis it is seen to be very similar. All the Clovers 

 are persistent bloomers; several appear among the 

 early spring flowers and continue with varied fortunes 

 until November cold ends their career. 



Clovers are distinctly bee blossoms; the Common 

 Red Clover is the particular preserve of the bumble- 

 bee and so specialized has it become that, deprived of 

 its ejficient assistant, no seeds can be produced. This 

 was made clearly apparent by the experience of the 

 Australian farmers who were obliged to import bum- 

 blebees in order that their Clover fields should produce 

 seed. 



Consider for a moment a Red Clover head ! A ball 

 of thirty to forty small Pea flowers set in a miniature 

 forest of upstanding points, hairy as a defense against 

 ants. Nothing bothers ants like hairs, and no visitors 



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