HARE'S FOOT TREFOIL 



21 



The flowers are in egg-shaped or rounded, terminal, soft, rosy-white 

 heads which lengthen, with soft, hairy calyx-teeth much longer than 

 the corolla, giving the head a soft feathery appearance. The corolla 

 is papilionaceous, shorter than the calyx, and hidden amongst the 

 bristle-like teeth. The inversely egg-shapeil fruits are enclosed hy 

 the calyx and retained in the head when ripe. 



Hare's Foot Trefoil is usually about i ft. high. The llowers may 

 be sought in July and August. The plant is annual and increased by 

 seed. 



Though the flowers are verv small thev are visited by a variety of 



H.^re's Foot Trefoil (Tri/hlium arvcnse, L.^ 



insects. The stamens are united as in other types of papilionaceous 

 flowers. Hare's Foot Trefoil is visited by Hymenoptera (Apida^), 

 Apis mellifica, Dombus rajelhis, B. lapidarins, Cilissa Icporina, Aiidrcua 

 xanthiira, Halictus zonuliis, H. qtiadi-iciiicfiis, Osinia caZ/iiciitana, 

 Megachi/c viaritiina\ Sphegidse, Psannuophila affinis; Lepidoptera, 

 Small Skipper {Adopcra thaiwias). 



The outer perianth is feathery and persistent, and winged, assisting 

 the fruits to some extent to disperse themselves by aid of the wind, or 

 they lie in tlie heads and the; seeds germinate on the ground. 



Hare's Foot Trefoil is most at home on a sand soil, and is thus 

 a sand plant. It also grows on rocky, stony ground, Precambrian and 

 older granitic and metamorphic rocks. 



