26 FLOWERS OF THE FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



Red Clover is one of the most useful plants for meadow lands. 

 It is sown in spring with corn, and when the corn is cut it furnishes 

 a winter fodder, growing up with it. It is also ploughed in as a 

 green crop, enriching the soil by the power it has of fixing nitrogen 

 by bacterial agency. It was first grown in 1645 in this country. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



78. Trifolium pratense, L. Stem rigid, hairy, leaflets broad, entire, 

 stipules blunt, ovate, flowers purple, sessile, in round heads, calyx 

 downy. 



White or Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens, L.) 



This is one of the Leguminosse which, so far as we know, is of 

 quite recent date. The North Temperate and Arctic Zones are its 

 home, i.e. in Arctic Europe, N. Africa, N. and W. Asia, India, and 

 N. America. In Great Britain it is found in every county as far north 

 as the Shetlands, and in the Highlands it is found growing at 2700 ft. 

 It is a native of Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



Truly wild upon most sandy stretches of pasture, the Dutch or 

 White Clover is to be found in fields, on banks, upland as well as 

 lowland, in all parts of the country; but it is rather more common 

 in the eastern and southern counties than in the west and northern 

 counties. With its occurrence is connected the honey output of most 

 hives, as the Red Clover is inaccessible to the hive bee. 



While Alsike and Red Clover are more or less erect, Dutch Clover 

 is a creeping, trailing plant, with numerous, widespreading, simple 

 stems, with leaflets in threes, egg-shaped at either end, slightly notched 

 at the tip and toothed, with a green or purple or white spot in the 

 centre. The leaf-like organs on the leaf-stalks are narrowly elliptic, 

 and drawn out into a point, with purple veins. 



The white, rarely purplish, flowers are in clusters, and when young 

 are erect, but later bent down, on long stalks, the heads being in 

 umbels. The ten calyx teeth are about equal, and ribbed, with bristle- 

 like teeth. The corolla, like the pea flower, is twice the length of the 

 calyx, the standard being brown, not falling. 



The pods are long, and contain four seeds. 



Rarely does the White Clover exceed 2 to 3 in. in height. The 

 flowers are in bloom from May to September. It is perennial, and 

 increases by root division. 



The Dutch Clover has a very simple flower, in which the wings 

 are united to the keel at one point, and the stamens and pistil are 

 enclosed in the keel. They protrude when it is depressed and return 



