T. PRATENSE, L. RED CLOVER. 323 



T. pratense, L. Red Clover, Broad leaved Clover, Common 

 Clover, Meadow Trefoil. More or less pubescent, leaflets ob- 

 long, stipules membranous, free portion appressed to the peti- 

 ole, heads terminal, sessile, globose, at length ovoid, subtented 

 by opposite leaves with much dilated stipules, calyx-teeth slen- 

 der, setaceous, erect, or spreading in fruit, the lowest longest. 



Pastures, roadsides, etc., ascending to 1,900 ft. in the High- 

 lands [of Great Britain] ; flowers from May to September. An- 

 nual, biennial or perennial. Stems 6-24 in., solid or fistular, 

 robust or slender. Leaflets -2 in., often marked with a white 

 spot or lunate band, finely toothed; stipules often 1-1 i n -> with 

 long setaceous points. Heads ^-li in. diam., pink, purple or 

 dirty white. Calyx-tube with a 2-lipped connection in the throat, 

 strongly nerved : teeth not exceeding the petals, very slender, un- 

 equal. Pod opening by the top falling off. Found in Europe, 

 !N. Africa, Siberia, W. Asia to India ; introduced in N. America 

 certainly before the Revolution. 



Early History. Although in a general way this is a plant 

 familiar to all farmers, there are many things in regard to its 

 habits, variation and other peculiarities yet to learn. The ex- 

 pression " To live in clover " has become proverbial, and is 

 another way of designating a good living. With a field of clover 

 knee high, or up to the eyes, means fat cattle and swine and 

 bunchy sheep. Some one styles the plant "The red plumed 

 commander-in-chief of the manurial forces." 



Red clover was known and prized over 2,000 years ago by the 

 Greeks and Romans, but it can hardly be said to have been cul- 

 tivated, even in the simplest way, till used in England about 

 1633, 253 years ago, or 44 years before the cultivation of peren- 

 nial rye grass, and nearly 100 years before that of any other of 

 the true grasses. 



FIG. 128. Trifolium pratense, L. (Red Clover'), part of a plant and a flower enlarged. 

 (Sudworth.) 



