

64 DIALYPETALOUS EXOGENS 



MEADOW TRIFOLIUM. Red Clover. 



Root Perennial f large, somewhat fusiform, branching below. Stems several 

 from the same root, 1 to 2 or 3 feet long, hairy towards the summit, and somewhat 

 branched. Leaflets an inch or inch and half long, usually with a broad paler spot 

 in the middle; common petioles half an inch to 4 or 5 inches long, the radical ones 

 often much longer. Heads of flowers bracteate at base ; petals (rarely white) 

 united into a slender tube about half an inch in length, which prevents the 

 Honey Bee from reaching the nectar. Legumes 1-seeded; seed reniform, greenish- 

 3'ellow, with a shade of reddish-brown. 

 Hob. Fields, and meadows. Nat. of Europe. Fl. May. Fr. July. 



Obs. This is a most valuable plant, and is diligently cultivated 

 by all good farmers. It is also extensively naturalized. In con- 

 junction with the Grasses especially with Timothy (Phleum pratense, 

 L-.} it makes first-rate hay ; though, by itself, it is rather indiffer- 

 ent pasture. It was introduced into general cultivation, in Chester 

 County, near the close of the last century ; but it is stated, in WAT- 

 SON'S Annals, that JOHN BARTRAM had fields of it, prior to the 

 American Revolution. Authors differ on the question, whether the 

 plant is perennial, or biennial. Certain it is, that a large portion of 

 that under culture dies at the end of the second year: but my 

 friend, JOSHUA HOOPES, assures me, he has ascertained that the 

 plant will live more than two years. I have met with a number of 

 instances, in which the usually gamopetalous corolla was substituted 

 Tdj.five distinct, green leaflets, with other modifications of the flower, 

 which finely illustrated GOETHE'S theory of retrograde metamorphosis. 



2. T. arvtnse, L. Stem erect, slender, branched, hairy; leaflets 

 cuneate-oblong, 3-toothed at apex; stipules narrow; heads cylindric- 

 oblong, very villous. 



FIELD TRIFOLIUM. Stone Clover. Welsh Clover. Rabbit-foot. 



Annual. Whole plant softly pilose. Stem 6 to 12 inches high. Leaflets half an 

 inch to near an inch long; common petioles % f an ^^ to an inch in length.. 

 Heads half an inch to an inch long, not bracteate at base, softly villous and pale 

 tawney ; corolla small, pale pink with a purple spot on the wings. Legumes 

 1-seeded; seed oval. 

 Hob. Old fields: frequent. Nat. of Europe. .Fl. June. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. A worthless species, which seems happily disposed to re- 

 strict itself to the sterile old fields of poor thriftless farmers. 



| f Florets pedicellate in umbel-Wee round lieads ; corolla white, turning brown in 

 fading. 



3. T. repens, L. Stems creeping, diffuse; leaflets roundish-obovate, 

 often emarginate, sharply denticulate; heads depressed-globose, on 

 very long axillary sulcate peduncles. 



CREEPING TRIFOLIUM. White Clover. Dutch Clover. 



Perennial; smooth. ,Sfem4tol2 or 15 inches long, diffusely branching from 

 the base, procumbent and radicating. Leaflets half an inch to an inch long, pome- 

 times almost obcordate, often with a pale lunate spot in the middle; common peti- 

 oles 1 or 2 to 6 or 8 inches in length. Heads of flowers on erect naked angular- 

 sulcate peduncles which are 2 to 8 or 12 inches in length; florets successively and 

 finally all reflexed. Legumes % to % of an inch long, torulose, 2- or 3- to 5-seeded ; 

 seeds subrcniform, or irregularly ovoid, reddish-brown. 

 Hob. Pastures, woodlands, &c. Nat. of Europe. Fl. May. Fr. July. 



