HOP TREFOIL. 23 



in tint, and especially near their bases. At the points 

 where the leaves are given off we find the oval and pointed 

 stipules growing 1 in pairs. The leaves are composed of 

 three leaflets ; hence the name trifoliitm applied to the 

 genus, that word being Latin in its origin, and signifying 

 three-leaved. Each leaflet is broadly heart-shaped, the 

 central one being on a longer stalk than the others, and 

 removed to a little distance from them. The margins are 

 finely toothed, the lateral veins very straight-lined, and 

 parallel, and conspicuous. The leaf-stalks are ordinarily 

 shorter than the leaves themselves, thus offering a marked 

 contrast to those of the T. repens. or Dutch clover, and most 

 of the other species of the genus. The flower-heads are 

 borne on long and naked stalks, that spring from the axils 

 of leaves, and are much longer than those bearing the 

 leaves. The flower-heads are loosely globular or ovoid in 

 form, and each contain some thirty or forty blossoms. 

 These, a bright golden yellow in tint, stand on very 

 short stalks, so short that they are not visible without 

 pulling the flower-head to pieces. The various flowers lie 

 closely together, and give the head the compact and hop- 

 like character. After flowering, the upper portion of the pea- 

 like flower droops down over the rest, and the golden yellow 

 tint is exchanged for a pale warm brown or fawn colour. We 

 may in many of the flower-heads thus trace the progress of 

 decay, a few blossoms of the globular mass being brown, 

 and the rest still of a pure yellow tint. Beneath these 

 drooping standards of the flowers, and concealed by them, 

 may be found the ripening pods. The blossoms are of the 

 usual pea-flower type. A conspicuous standard stands 

 nearly erect; the wings are smaller than this, and the 

 keel is very small indeed, and contained within the wings. 



