PEA AND BEAN TRIBE 189 



are most abundant in Italy. The species of the Astragalus, or Milk Vetch, 



first begin to preponderate in Asia Minor. The Trefoil is called Trhfle by the 



French, and Der Klee by the Germans. The old Anglo-Saxon word from 



which our modern Clover is derived, was Cloefer, from Cleof-an, to cleave, and 



refers to the cleft leaf. The Dutch still call it Klaver, and many of our 



writers of the sixteenth century call it Claver-grass, though Michael Drayton 



always calls it Clover : — 



" So that my poorest trash, which men call rush and reed, 

 Doth like the penny grass or the pure Clover show." 



Shakspere speaks of the 



" Freckled cowslip, burnet, and sweet Clover ;" 



and few of us can see the Clover flower without the thought of some pleasant 

 meadow land, in which we may, in other days, have seen it growing in all 

 its ruddy beauty and sweetness : — 



" It doth remind me of an old low strain 

 I used to sing in lap of summers dead, 

 When I was but a child, and when we play'd 

 Like April sunbeams, 'mong the summer flowers : 

 Or romped in the dews with weak complaining lambs, , 



Or sate in circles on the primrose knolls, 

 Striving with eager, and palm-shaded eyes, 

 'Mid shouts and silver laughs, who first should catch 

 The lark, a singing speck, go up the sky." 



3. Zigzag Clover (T. mklium). — Flowers on stalked loose round heads ; 

 calyx-teeth, bristle-like, the two upper shortest ; stipules narrow, tapering 

 to a point ; leaflets elliptical narrow ; stem zigzag. Plant perennial. This, 

 though not an unfrequent species, is not so common as the Purple Clover, 

 which it much resembles. It is, however, quite a distinct plant, and well 

 marked by its very zigzag stem. It is also more slender, the heads of flowers 

 larger, and of darker purple; its leaflets and stipules narrower, and the 

 former without any white spot. It is in flower from June to September in 

 pastures, and though not so nutritious for cattle as is the Common Clover, 

 yet it is better adapted for thriving in light soils. It has a similar sweet 

 odour to that of the Meadow Clover, and resembles it in flavour. 



4. Sulphur-coloured Trefoil {T. ochroleucwn). — Flowers in dense 

 stalked, terminal heads, which are at first hemispherical, and afterwards ■ 

 egg-shaped ; calyx-teeth awl-shaped ; upper leaflets oblong, loAver heart- 

 shaped. Plant perennial. This species is by no means so generally diffused 

 among our grassy places as is either of the foregoing, but it is common in 

 the eastern counties of England, and especially on the clayey pastures of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk. It grows in fields and by waysides, bearing, in July 

 and August, flowers of a cream colour, more or less tinged with yellow, 

 which turn to brown as they fade. The stem is a foot or more high, and 

 the lower leaves are on long stalks. 



5. Hare's-foot Trefoil {T. arv4nse). — Flowers in terminal and axillary 

 heads, covered with soft downy hairs ; calyx-teeth hairy, much longer than 

 the corolla ; stem branched, erect ; leaflets lanceolate, blunt ; stipules egg- 

 shaped, pointed. Plant annual. This is a very pretty Trefoil, its pale pink 

 blossoms just peeping through the soft grey down which surrounds them. 



