4 Muhlenbergia, Volume 9 
ior.’ While this is perhaps going to the extreme in describing 
a seed in connection with a description of a species, and in a 
work not devoted to seeds, yet it is much to be preferred to de- 
scriptions where the seed is not even mentioned. 
When one finds differences in the seeds of two troublesome 
closely related plants, he can usually conclude that they are dif- 
ferent species. In the present group we have been greatly aided 
in having an abundance of seed of a number of the species. 
First recognizing a difference in the seed, we have worked back- 
wards and found other specific characters. 
In Landwirtschaftliche Samenkunde 621-630, by Dr. C. D. 
Harz, a work devoted entirely to seeds, we find the seeds of 13 
species of the most useful European clovers described, with 
many morphological and histological illustrations. In North 
American Trifoliums 200, by McDermott, section Macraeae, we 
find “‘seedf obcordate.”” We have found no obcordate seeds in 
this group, as we understand the term. 
The seeds of this group, represented in plate 1, are more 
evenly symmetrical in outline than in most of the other groups. 
They are oval, ovoid, elliptical or oblong, with the hilum near 
the upper end of the seeds. We have found only one mature 
seed in a legume of any of the species, but there are frequently 
two ovules. If one takes individual seeds it will be difficult to 
recognize inuch difference in the color of the seeds of the vari- 
ous species, but by placing them in a bottle and looking at a 
mass of them, the coloring is quite distinct. There may be dark 
and light seeds, with some heavily mottled and others less so, 
but when placed together the distinct shade is quite discernable 
to anyone even quite unfamiliar with seeds or plants. It is our 
intention to show these seeds in colors in the monograph. In 
size they average about 2.2mm. long and 1.2 mm. wide. 
