DESCRIPTION AND NAME. 



41 



Table XIV. — Temperature and rainfall for certain months during 1905 at Guelph, Ontario, 

 compared vnth the normals for the same months at Orel, Russia. 



a Wild, Die Ti'mpcnitiirvcrhiiltnissi' dos Uiissisehen Reichos, St. lVt('rsl>urg, 1881. 

 6 Wild, Die Regenvorhiiltnissi- dcs Russischen Reiches, St. l'i'ter.sl)nrg, 1887. 



DESCRIPTION OF NEW TYPE AND NAME PROPOSED. 



Although American red clovers from widely separated sources vary- 

 greatly among themselves, these variations do not appear to be con- 

 stant and are not of sufficient importance in any case to justify the 

 giving of varietal rank in the botanical sense to any of the regional 

 strains of domestic origin used in these experiments. On the other 

 hand, the distinctions between the hairless Orel clover and the Amer- 

 ican clovers are so numerous and well defined in the j)lant itself, 

 though not apparent in the seed, that it seems advisable, on account 

 of the probable economic importance of the former, to give it a dis- 

 tinct varietal name. Almost complete lack of hairiness is perhaps 

 the most striking distinguishing mark of this form in the field, but 

 the variability in amount of hairiness, differing as it does even in 

 American strains from more or less widely separated sources, makes 

 this an undesirable quality on which to base a name. On account of 

 the value both from an economic standpoint and as a botanical 

 character of the general leafiness of the plant and the persistence and 

 number of basal leaves produced, the writer proposes for this variety 

 the designation Trifolium pratense var. foliosum, based on these 

 characters. A type specimen has been deposited in the National 

 Herbarium. 



In addition to lack of hairiness and the unusual leafing qualities 

 referred to above, the plants of this variety have a more upright 

 habit of growth and branch more freely than the American form. 

 Besides the foregoing, there are .other differences of a more purely 

 botanical character. The white spots on the leaflets which are so 

 prominent in the ordinary form are frequently absent from plants 

 of this variety and often when present can scarcely be seen. The 

 largest mature leaves of the smooth clover are about the same size 

 as the smallest of the American strains. The flower heads are also 

 smaller, less compact, and rather more elongate than those of the 

 latter. The bracts subtending the inflorescences are smaller in this 

 form; also more circular in outline, less prominently nerved, of finer 



