237 



plant ; this, on approaching it nearer, I found to be Trit'olium Bocconi, 

 occupying a space of about twenty yards in extent. It was in good 

 condition, and at once all doubts vanished as to its being a species 

 perfectly distinct from both T. striatum and scabrum. It is a much 

 smaller plant, of erect growth, with smooth leaves and of palish foliage. 

 The corolla is light straw-coloured, but in one patch which I gather- 

 ed it was tinged with red : the fruit in no single instance had been 

 perfected. Johns, who had now rejoined me, and myself hunted for 

 it in the adjoining fields, but without success, possibly on account of 

 the short time we could afford to dedicate to the search. Whether 

 the plant be indigenous or introduced would be difficult to say : had 

 we discovered it in an additional spot we should both have firmly as- 

 serted the former. Having obtained a fair supply for ourselves and 

 correspondents of this interesting trefoil, we proceeded with the Rev. 

 P. V, Robinson, rector of Landewednack, through Cadgewith to one 

 of the stations of Asparagus officinalis, which is situated about a quar- 

 ter of a mile to the eastward of that place. Before reaching it I found 

 Herniaria glabra in a luxuriant state, and Johns about the same spot 

 met with the Trifolium which I discovered in 1838 near the Lizard 

 Lights, and which is given in Babington's Manual as Trifolium incar- 

 natura, var. /3, Molinieri. Whether the plant is a mere variety of T. 

 incarnatum I much doubt, and therefore avail myself of the present 

 opportunity to point out the differences between its characters and 

 those found in the diagnoses of the typical form, as given by Koch, 

 Babington and others. Trifolium incarnatum is said to be erect by 

 Babington, Koch and De CandoUe, and ascending by Reichenbach ; 

 to have its stipules obtuse by Babington, broad and obtuse by Koch, 

 and obtuse and spJiacelate by De Candolle (the Molinieri variety 

 wanting the latter character) : to have the mouth of the calyx hairy by 

 Babington, and the throat obsoletely hairy by Koch. The Lizard 

 plant is in most cases prostrate, but sometimes with a tendency to as- 

 cend ; the stipules are narrow, ovate and acute ; the throat most de- 

 cidedly naked ; the hairs about the mouth of the calyx are such only 

 as necessarily result from the villose character which this part pre- 

 sents. Whether these discrepancies are of sufficient importance to 

 justify a separation of the two plants, I leave to more able botanists 

 to determine. I should not omit to state, that not a single specimen 

 with a red corolla was to be seen amongst the countless numbers 

 which we observed on this and the former occasions. 



As to this Trifolium being decidedly indigenous, the shadow of a 

 doubt cannot be entertained by any one who has seen it growing in 



