382 THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



V. americ&na, Muhl. Perennial, smooth: leaflets 10-14, oblong, blunt: 

 peduncles 4 8-flowered: flowers purplish-blue, ^ % in. long. Moist soil. 



V. Cracca, Linn. Perennial, more or less pubescent, with weak stems: 

 leaflets 12-24, oblong to linear, mucronate: racemes many-flowered, 1-sided, 

 spike-like, on axillary peduncles; flowers blue to purple, M-H in. long. 

 Dryish soil. 



V. sativa, Linn. Spring vetch. Annual, rather pubescent, not climbing: 

 leaflets, 5-7 pairs, oblong or obovate, to linear, obtuse or retuse or mucro- 

 nate: flowers in pairs, from axils, nearly sessile, violet-purple, %-l in. long: 

 pod smooth, linear, 5-10-seeded. Cultivated or wild; from Europe. 



V. villdsa, Roth. Hairy or winter vetch. Diffuse, very hairy: flowers 

 showy in long axillary racemes, deep purple: seeds small and black. Culti- 

 vated and escaped. Europe. Annual and biennial, perhaps sometimes 

 perennial. 



8. TRIFOLIUM. CLOVER. 



Annual or perennial herbs with digitate leaves of 3 leaflets (all 3 leaflets 

 joined directly to top of petiole): flowers small, with bristle-form calyx- 

 teeth, in dense heads: fruit a 1- to few-seeded little pod which does not 

 exceed the calyx. 



a. Flowers sessile in the dense heads. 



T. pratense, Linn. Common red clover Figs. 85, 173. Erect, 

 12 ft., with ovai or obovate leaflets, which have a pale spot 

 or band near the center and usually a notch at the end : flowers 

 rose-red, honey-sweet, the heads closely surrounded by leaves. 

 Europe, but common everywhere in the North. 



T. medium, Linn. Medium red clover. Larger, the stem less 

 straight, the leaflets oblong, entire and with a spot: head stalked 

 above the uppermost leaves. Otherwise like the last. 



T. arvense, Linn. Rabbit-foot clover. Annual; 5-10 in., 

 erect: flowers sessile in dense, cylindrical heads, which become 

 very soft and grayish fur-like, from the silky plumose calyx- 

 teeth; corolla insignificant, whitish. Dry, sandy soils; intro- 

 duced from Europe. 



aa. Flowers short-stalked in the heads. 



T. hybridum, Linn. Alsike clover. Slender, from a prostrate base, 1-3 

 ft.: leaflets obcordate: head small and globular, light rose-colored. Europe. 



T. repens, Linn. White clover. Small, the stems long-creeping and 

 sending up flowering stems 3-12 in. high: leaflets obcordate: heads small, 

 white. Common; native, also European. 



T. incarnatum, Linn. Crimson clover. Fig. 527. Stout, hairy, erect 

 plant, 1-2 > ft., with obovate-oblong leaflets and brilliant crimson flowers 

 in a long-stalked head. Europe; now frequently cultivated. 



T. reflexum, Linn. Buffalo clover. Annual or biennial, pubescent, ascend- 

 ing 818 in. : standard purple, keel and wings whitish: leaflets oval or obovate, 

 finely toothed. Most common in central states, from western New York. 



