312 LEGUMINOSiE. Trifolicm. 



Dry sandy pine woods, North Carolina ! to Florida ! Alabama, Dr. Gates ! 

 Sept.-Oct.— !<: Stems several from one root, erect, simple below, much 

 branched at the sunnnit ; the branchlets terminating in roundish compact 

 heads nearly half an inch in diameter. Bracts nearly orbicular, ciliate, riiu- 

 cronate, the lowest ones bearing one or more pairs of leaflets resembling 

 those of the stem. Leaflets almost fihform, dotted. Flowers white. Seg- 

 ments of the calyx 3-4 times as long as the tube. Petals oblong-lanceolate, 

 attenuate at the base: vexillum oblong. — This species on account of its habit, 

 its large involucrate bracts, deeply divided and plumose calyx, and narrow 

 petals, has been separated as a distinct genus ; but scarcely on sufficient 

 grounds, for several other species have a similar calyx and very narrow pe- 

 tals, and in P. multiflorum the stem is somewhat corymbosely branched. 

 There is no other species, however, with similar spikes. 



Tribe IV. TRIFOLIE^E. Bronn. 



Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens diadelphous (9 & 1). Legume 

 continuous, 1-celled, dehiscent and several-seeded, or l-fevv-seeded and 

 nearly indehiscent. Radicle inflexed. — Erect or procumbent, mostly- 

 low herbs, rarely a little shrubby. Leaves palmately or pinnately tri- 

 foliolate, or sometimes 5-7-foliolate, exstipellate : leaflets often tooth- 

 ed or serrulate ! Inflorescence axillary or terminal, racemose, spi- 

 cate, capitate, or umbellate. 



29. TRIFOLIUM. Tourn. inst. t. 228; Linn, (partly) ; DC.prodr. I. c. 



Calyx tubular or campanulate (not glandular), persistent, 5-cleft ; the seg- 

 ments subulate or setaceous. Corolla commonly marcescent or persistent; 

 the petals usually all more or less united at the base, free from (or occasion- 

 ally coherent with) the stamen-tube : vexillum longer than the wings, and 

 these mosfly longer than the keel. Ovary 2-6-ovuled : style filiform. Le- 

 gumes small, membranaceous, 1-2- or sometimes 3-6-seeded, indehiscent, or 

 often dehiscent by the ventral suture, included in the calyx-tube or more or 

 less exserted; rarely coriaceous and stipitate. — Herbs, often caespitose or 

 diff'use. Leaves palmately 3- (rarely 5-7-) foUolate, or occasionally pinnate- 

 ly trifoliolate: leaflets commonly denticulate ; the veins straight, simple or 

 forked, but scarcely reticulated (except in § Involucrarium). Stipules adnate 

 to the base of the petiole. Flowers axiflary or terminal, densely spicate, 

 capitate, or subumbellate, bracteate : petals purple, red, white, ochroleucous, 

 or yellow. — Clover. Trefoil. 



§ 1. Heads or spikes not involucrate. — Trifolium proper. 



♦ Corolla marcescejit or deciduous, never yellow : jloioers in pedunculate or sessile 

 spikes or ovate heads, not dejlexed when old : calyx not inflated after flowering. 



1. T. altissimum (Dougl.) : glabrous ; stem erect, tall ; leaflets linear-lan- 

 ceolate, denticulate, on very long petioles, the uppermost nearly sessile ; sti- 

 pules lanceolate, acuminate, adnate to the petiole nearly their whole length; 

 heads of flowers oblong, ebracteate, pedunculate ; calyx wholly glabrous, the 



