152 LEGUMINOS.E. 



* M. leucantha (White Melilot), a much, less common 

 plant, differs from the preceding in having white flowers, 

 in which the standard is longer than the wings and keel. 



7. TRIGONELLA (Fenugreek). 



1. T. ornithopodioides (Bird' s-foot Fenugreek). Flowers 

 2 3 together ; legumes 8-seeded, twice as long as the 

 calyx. Dry, sandy places, not common. A small plant, 

 with spreading prostrate branches and small reddish 

 flowers. 



8. TRIFOLIUM (Trefoil). 

 * Legumes with several seeds. 



1. T. repens (White or Dutch Clover). Flowers in 

 roundish heads, stalked, finally bent back ; legumes 

 4-seeded ; stems creeping. Abundant in meadows, 

 where it forms excellent pasture. The flowers are white, 

 sometimes tinged with pink, and fragrant ; on the sandy 

 sea coast they appear early in spring, in which situa- 

 tions the foliage is stunted and scanty. The leaflets 

 often have a white line near the middle, and sometimes 

 a dark spot as well. In a variety commonly cultivated 

 in gardens, under the name of Shamrock, nearly the 

 whole of the centre of each leaflet is tinged with dark 

 purple. The real Shamrock is this species, and, per- 

 haps, any other " 3-leaved grass " which grows in simi- 

 lar situations. Much discussion about the identity of 

 Shamrock might have been saved, by recollecting that 

 St. Patrick's day falls at a season when the botanical 

 characters of the trefoils are scarcely developed, and 

 that the devotees of that Saint can scarcely be expected 

 to have possessed much botanical knowledge. Some 

 antiquarians contend that, as Ireland was a well-wooded 

 country in St. Patrick's time, the Saint very probably 

 selected a leaf of Wood-Sorrel (6xalis Acetosella) to 

 illustrate the Doctrine of^he Trinity. Fl. through 

 the summer. Perennial. 



