TRIFOLIUM 143 



It varies considerably in size ; the extremes have received specific 

 names ; the smaller form is T. pseiido-procunihens, Gmelin, Flora Baden, 

 iii. 240, the larger is T. ccmipestre, Schi-eber in Sturm. Deutschlands 

 Flora, heft 16, 1804, but they have been reduced in Koch. Syn. Fl. 

 Germ. 175 (1837), to the varieties minus and major. The var. minus has 

 much smaller heads of sulphur-coloured flowers, peduncles often twice 

 as long as the leaf, and a more procumbent stem ; the var. siajus 

 has larger heads of golden yellow flowers, the stems are more erect 

 with patent branches, and the peduncles sub-equal to the leaf. This 

 variety recalls T. agrarium in habit ; it has been noticed at Wootton, 

 Padworth, W. Ilsley, and in other places. The letter of Dr. Beeke 

 describing the three trefoils is printed in the Botanologia of Berks. 

 A dwarf form was found in Sonning Cutting in 1890, in which the 

 calyx and corolla were foliaceous, but the same plant had also normal 

 flower-heads. 



T. procumhens is found in all the bordering counties. 



T. dubium, Sibth. Fl. Oxon. 231 (1794). Yellow Suckling Trefoil. 

 T. minus, Kelhan, Fl. Cantab, ed. 2, 290 (1802). T. filiforme, Linn. Fl. 

 Suec. ed. 2, 261, not of Sp. PI. 773. 

 Top. Bot. 114. Syme, E. B. iii. 62, t. 366. Nyman, 180. Fl. Oxf. 81. 

 Native. Pascual. Meadows, pastures, on sandy and gravelly soil ; 

 generally distributed, having been noticed by me in many locali- 

 ties in every district. A. April-August. 

 First recorded by Dr. Beeke in a letter to Sir James Smith, dated 1800, 

 and describing the specimens gathered at Ufton, of which he 

 sent Smith two varieties labelled T. procumbens, No. 2 and No. 3. 

 These varieties, he thinks, are permanent. 

 Both the specimens are T. dubium, and are mentioned by Smith in 

 the English Flora, iii. 311, 1825, where he says that ' Dr. Beeke favoured 

 me with specimens of the plants in question from the same dry, flinty, 

 gravelly natural pasture at Ufton, where the larger variety of 

 T. minus, with its succulent stem, retained all its diversity of habit 

 and remained constant when propagated by seed.' See also E. B. 

 1804. 



The calyces of T. dubium, like those of T. repens, sometimes become 

 foliaceous ; such a form occurred at Hinksey. 

 T. dubium is found in all the bordering counties. 



T. filiforme, Linn. Sp. PI. 773 (1753), and Herb. Small Trefoil. 



T. lupulinum minimum, Morison, in Ray, Syn. 331, t. 14, f. 4. 

 Top. Bot. 114. Syme, E. B. iii. 63, t. 367. Nyman, 180. Fl. Oxf. 81. 

 Native. Ericetal. Heathy commons, dry sandy pastures, and also in 



peaty places. Locally common, but absent from considerable 



areas of the county. A. May-August. 



