260 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



branch of Ivy which 

 we were just examining 

 offers examples of pal- 

 matifid leaves, and the 

 well-known Monkshood 

 (Aconitum napellus), of 

 which the school- 

 master's garden will 

 furnish specimens, bears 

 leaves of the deeply cut 

 palmatisect form (fig. 

 819). 



As we are now down 

 among the grass, we 

 may pause a moment 

 to admire the splendid 

 white blossoms and 

 pretty leaves of the 

 little Trefoil, creeping 

 in and out between the 

 cool blades. It is a 

 species of Clover or 

 Trefoil (Trifoliutn sub- 

 terraneum, fig. 319). 

 Notice that the tiny 

 leaflets all spring from 

 the top of the petiole 

 or leaf-stalk, just as in 

 the case of the Horse-chestnut-leaf gathered at the beginning of our 

 walk ; and as these leaflets are always three in number in the Trefoil, 

 its leaves are said to be 3-foliate or ternate. We say " always three in 

 number," but now and again a sprig with only two leaflets will turn up, 

 and if the happy finder of this rarum folium be an East-country maiden, 

 she will probably treasure it as a charm. 



A Clover, a Clover of two, 



Put it on your right shoe ; 



The first young man you meet, 



In meadow, lane, or street, 



You'll have him, or one of his name. 



So runs the rhyme ; while the finding of a 4-foliate Clover-leaf is said to 

 be a hardly less auspicious event : 



If you find an even Ash-leaf or a four-leaved Clover, 

 Look to meet your true love ere the day be over. 



Photo by] 



FIG. 317. THE OAK (Quercus robur). 



[J. Holma 



Showing a normal trunk with its principal limbs, thrown in the open. In woods 

 the limbs and brunches are less spreading. 



