WHITE OR DUTCH CLOVER 



27 



when the pressure is removed, and the pollen is thus well covered, 

 or protected from rain or creeping insects. The honey lies at the base 

 of the ovary near the base of the united stamens, being reached by 

 apertures each side of the free stamen. The insect stands on the 

 two wings, thrusting its head beneath the standard, which it forces 

 up, depressing the wings and keel and forcing the stamens and pistil 

 against the bee's abdomen, and possibly causing cross-pollination on 

 the return of the parts 

 to their place if the insect 

 has previously visited an- 

 other flower of the same 

 species. The stigma pro- 

 jects above the anthers, 

 first touching the abdomen 

 of a visitor. The calyx-tube 

 is short, allowing Andrcna 

 and Halictus to reach the 

 honey. The wings and keel 

 move together or rotate 

 when pressed, and the 

 former projecting beyond 

 the latter this causes a lever 

 motion. The elasticity of 

 the standard causes the 

 parts to return to their place 

 after insects' visits, and the 

 other parts also. The 

 visitors are Hymenoptera 

 {KQ\&e,,Apisinellifica, Boni- 

 bus pratorum, Megachile 



willoughbiella, Halictus tarsatus, H. immaculatus, Andrena fnlvicrus}; 

 Diptera (Syrphidae, Volucella bombylans, Conopicte, Myopa buccata, M. 

 testacea]\ Lepicloptera (Large White Butterfly (Pieris brassics]\ 



The pods are covered by the corolla not falling in fruit, and these 

 when the head is ripe fall off just round the plant. The seed is thus 

 dispersed by the plant itself. 



Like the Red Clover, White Clover requires a sand soil, never 

 (or rarely) growing in humus soil as the former does. 



Urophlyctis trifolii and Peronospora trifoliorum are fungi parasitic 

 upon it. A beetle (Apion flavipes) and a hymenopterous insect 

 (Colletes marginata) live on it. 



WHITE CLOVER (Trifoli 



Photo. B. Hanley 



repcns, L.) 



