90 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



often mixed with those of alfalfa and clover. Remedies : crowding 

 out with red clover or cow-peas; increased fertilization. 



51. MEIJLOTUS ALBA Desv. White Sweet-clover. White Melilot. Tree 



Clover. (B. I. 2.) 



Erect or ascending, 3-10 feet high, branching; leaves 3-parted; leaf- 

 lets oblong, slightly toothed, rounded at tip, f of an inch long. Flowers 

 white, in slender axillary racemes; standard slightly longer than the 

 wings; stamens 10, in 2 sets, 9 and 1. Pod egg-shaped, of in inch long. 

 Seeds like those of red clover but smaller and flatter. (Fig. 56.) 



Very common in hard, dry soil along embankments, roadsides, 

 borders of fields and waste places generally. June-Oct. Some- 

 times forms dense thickets which, when the 

 plants are old, are difficult to penetrate. Often 

 cut and fed green to stock and in some parts of 

 the south regarded as a valuable forage plant. 

 If used for hay it should be cut early before the 

 blossoms appear or the stem becomes too woody. 

 Remedies: repeated mowing; cultivation in late 

 summer; increased fertilization. 



The yellow sweet-clover (M. officinalis L.), 

 2-A feet high, the flowers yellow, the standard 

 about equalling the wings, occurs in similar 

 places but is much less frequent. The leaves of 

 both are fragrant in drying, hence the name 

 "sweet-clover." Both are useful as soil indica- 

 tors and where grown in old roadways or brick- 

 yards and then turned under aid much in bring- 

 ing the dry soil into good condition. 



Fig. IS. (After Piper.) 



52. MEIBOMIA CANESCENS L. 

 Seed Ticks. (P. N. 2.) 



Hoary Tick-trefoil. 



Erect, much branched, 3-5 feet high, covered with short dense hairs; 

 leaves stalked, 3-parted; leaflets ovate, blunt-pointed, yellowish-green, 1^1 

 inches long, the end one the larger; stipules large, ovate, persistent. 

 Flowers purple in terminal compound racemes; stamens in two sets, 9 

 and 1. Pod or loment lobed on both margins, more deeply below than 

 above, 4-6 jointed, the joints longer than broad, very adhesive. Seeds 

 lens-shaped, kidney-form, nearly of an inch long. (Fig. 57.) 



Very common along fence-rows, roadsides, borders of thickets, 

 etc., especially in low, rich soil. June-Sept. The joints of the pods 

 break apart easily and are roughened with minute hooked hairs by 

 which they adhere closely to wool, clothing and fur, thus widely 

 scattering the enclosed seeds. Remedies: mowing or hoe cutting; 

 cultivation. 



