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FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



in some cases to the growing of clover with wheat to serve as a second 

 crop after the wheat is cut. In a general way it occurs in sandy places, 

 and on waste ground, where it is quite established. 



This is a handsome, tall, erect, or sometimes trailing, and clustered 

 or branched species, with fresh bright-green foliage. The leaflets are 

 oblong, with small sawlike teeth, and notched at the tip, the stem 

 hollow, the stipules or leaves membranous with few nerves, the stalks 



long. 



The flowerheads are 

 in umbels, rounded, in 

 threes, the stalks long, 

 placed in the axils, the 

 petals being white or rose- 

 colour, and the teeth of 

 the calyx are subequal, 

 awl-shaped, and half as 

 long as the corolla. The 

 pods contain 4 seeds. 



Usually Alsike Clover 

 is about 9 in. to i ft. high. 

 The flowers may be found 

 in June, July, August, and 

 September. It is peren- 

 nial. 



The flowers are larger 

 than, but resemble those 



-^^m.. ^- -^ of T. repens, and are thus 



M& *Y more liable to be cross- 



pollinated than smaller- 

 flowered species which are 

 inconspicuous. The flower is partly drooping after flowering and the 

 calyx bell-shaped. The pods are enclosed in the calyx, which does 

 not fall, and drop in the immediate neighbourhood of the parent plant. 



Alsike is a sand plant and thrives well on a sand soil, derived 

 from arenaceous rocks, such as Coal-measures and other sandstone 

 formations. 



Insect or fungal pests are unknown. 



The name hybridum refers to a supposed hybrid origin, the plant 

 being derived from T. pratense and T. repens, between which it is 

 intermediate. 



The plant is called Alsike or Alsike Clover. Linnaeus found it 



Photo. J. H. Crabtr 



ALSIKE CLOVER (Trifohum hybridum, L.) 



