PAPILIONACEi^— PEA FAMILY 



WHITE CLOVER 



Trifolium ripens 



Trijolium, three-leaved. 



Low, creeping perennial. Fields, roadsides, lawns, 

 everywhere. America, Europe, Asia. April-November. 



Stem. — Creeping and spreading by runners, rooting at 

 the nodes or joints. 



Leaves. — On long petioles, compound, of three leaflets; 

 occasionally a leaf is found bearing four or more. A four- 

 leaf clover is always accepted as a token of good luck. 

 Leaflets rounded oval, obovate or obcordate; margins 

 obscurely toothed, and surfaces usually marked with a 

 grayish green triangular band, the angle of which points 

 to the apex. 



Flowers. — In heads, cream-white, frequently pinkish. 



Calyx. — Small, five-parted, pale green. 



Corolla. — Five papilionaceous petals united into a tube; 

 as they fade they become brown, turn downward, sepa- 

 rating the head into two parts, the active and the faded, 

 until finally all are reflexed and the seeds ripen. 



Stamens. — Ten, diadelphous, that is, in two brother- 

 hoods; one with nine filaments united, one with filament 

 separate from the others. 



Pistil. — One. 



Fruit. — A four-seeded pod. 



PolHnated by honey-bees. Nectar-bearing. 



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