Trifolmni Incarnatum Quadrifoliuui. 2^^ 



but not so rare as we might have imagined. I have found 

 them ahnost every year, and often (juite soon after I 

 had been asked for one. On the other hand there is on 

 the market the 5-fohate T. rcpcns atropnrpurcum which 

 is often cultivated in gardens for its dark brown leaves, 

 and for T. pratcnse I have described the five-leaved form 

 in detail in § 5. 



Plants of T. pratcnse are sometimes found in the field 

 with two or more 4- or multi foliate leaves. I found one 

 in 1866 in the Cronesteyn estate near Leyden, and an- 

 other in 1886 near Loosdrecht. The first had several 

 4-foliate leaves, and also some 5-6-foliate ones. I se- 

 cured the former but did not cultivate it; the latter 

 formed the starting point of my race. In view of my 

 present knowledge I must assume that in both cases the 

 plants already belonged to the race when I found them ; 

 and I also consider it as probable that this race had arisen 

 on these very spots, or at least not far from them.^ 



Whether the same race can also be produced from the 

 occasional stray four-leaved clovers I do not, of course, 

 know ; but I anticipate that the attempt would sometimes 

 succeed and at other times fail. If this view is confirmed 

 by future experiments we shall have proof of the exist- 

 ence of the two races, the eversporting variety and the 

 half-race, existing simultaneously within the limits of a 

 single species. For the present we must be satisfied with 

 the knowledge that there exists a race rich in anomalous 

 leaves in the red and in the white clover, and one in the 

 crimson clover which bears the character only in the 

 semi-latent state. 



I shall now proceed to the description of the latter. 



In the winter of 1894-95 I bought a kilo of the seed 



A polyphyletic origin, therefore, as in Linaria vulgaris pelon'a. 



