28 FLOWERS OF THE FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



The second Latin name refers to its creeping habit. It is called 

 Bloodwort, Claver, Clover, Dutch or White Clover, Curl-dodclie, 

 Fourleaved Grass, Sheep's Gowan, Purple Grass, Honeystalks, Honey- 

 suckle Clover, White Honeysuckle, Lamb's Sucklings, Purple-wort, 

 Quillet, Sucklers. The name Purple Grass is given to a cultivated 

 form with dark-brown purple foliage. 



Parkinson says of this : 



The purple grasse spreadeth on the ground. 



<l The leaves are in some three, in others foure or five, on a stalke 

 of a sad greene colour, with a shadow of darke purple cast over them, 

 the flowers are white; I never saw this but in gardens where women 

 keepe it with confidence to be good for the purples in children or 

 others." This is a good instance of the absurd "doctrine of signa- 

 tures " then in force. 



"Honeystalks" are clover flowers "which contain a sweet juice". 

 Cattle sometimes overcharge themselves with clover and die. 



Words more sweet, and yet more dangerous, 

 Than baits to fish, or honeystalks to sheep. 



SHAKESPEARE, Titus Andromcus. 



Lambs were fed on clover, hence the name Lamb's Sucklings. 

 As a fodder plant it is valuable, and it spreads and roots widely, being 

 permanent, unlike the Red Clover. A square yard is quickly covered 

 by a plant in one year. The seeds have been used in times of famine 

 for making bread. The hive bee seeks its honey from this clover. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



8 1. Trifolium repens, L. Stems creeping, leaflets obovate, serrate, 

 flowers white, in round heads, fruit-stalks deflexed after flowering, 

 peduncles axillary, longer than the leaves, legumes 4-seeded. 



Hop Trefoil (Trifolium procumbens, L.) 



The present range of Hop Trefoil for this is only known in the 

 present-day flora is the North Temperate Zone of Europe, North 

 Africa, North and West Asia, and it is also an introduction in North 

 America. In Great Britain it is unknown in Monmouth, South-east 

 York, Main Argyle, Hebrides, Orkneys, elsewhere it grows from 

 Ross southwards, ascending to 1200 ft. in Derbyshire, Ireland, and 

 the Channel Islands. 



The Hop Trefoil, while commonly a meadow plant, is also a 



