188 



LEGUMINOS^E. LXX. TRIPOLI. 



segments nerved, lanceolate, acute, unequal, the two superior 

 ones longer than the corolla ; legume 2-seeded ; seeds somewhat 

 cordate, bay-coloured. Q. H. Native of Hungary and Sibe- 

 ria. T. strictum, Sturm, deutsch. fl. 1. fasc. 15. but not of Lin. 

 Small-flowered Trefoil. Fl. June, July. Clt. 1820. PI. pr. 



85 T. STRICTCM (Lin. spec. 1079.) glabrous ; stems branched 

 at the base ; lower leaflets obovate, superior ones oblong-ell ip- 

 tic, serrulated ; stipulas somewhat scarious, very broad, and 

 blunti.sli ; heads of flowers axillary, on long peduncles, globose ; 

 bracteas membranous, almost lanceolate ; flowers dense, sessile ; 

 calycine segments subulate, unequal, spreading a little, shorter 

 than the corolla ; legume a little exserted, 2-seeded ; seeds 

 ovate; radicle hardly prominent. Q. H. Native of the south 

 of Europe, in Hungary, &c. Waldst. et Kit. pi. hung. 1. p. 

 37. t. 37. Mich. gen. 29. t. 25. f. 7. Flowers white. 



Var. ft, elatum (Ser. mss. in D. C. prod. 2. p. 198.) stems 

 and leaflets elongated. T. Isevigatum, Poir. itin. 2. p. 219. 

 Desf. fl. all. 2. p. 195. t. 208. Native of Barbary. 



Straight Trefoil. Fl. June, July. Clt. 1805. PI. to 1 ft. 



86 T. OBCORDA'TUM (Desv. journ, bot. 1814. 3. p. 76.) stems 

 creeping ; leaflets obcordate, quite entire ; peduncles ascending, 

 at length reflexed ; calyxes and peduncles villous. If. . F. 

 Native about Buenos Ayres. This plant has the habit of T. 

 repens. Flowers of a fine purple colour. Perhaps two species 

 are confused under this name, one of which has the leaflets, 

 peduncles, and calyxes glabrous, and the other having the leaf- 

 lets, peduncles, and calyxes villous. 



Obcordate-]eafietted Trefoil. PI. creeping. 



87 T. GRANDIFLORUM (Hook, in Beech, bot. p. 16.) stems 

 creeping ; leaflets obcordate, striated, denticulated, and are as 

 well as the petioles pilose ; stipulas oval, ending in a long awn ; 

 peduncles hardly pilose, ascending, 3-times longer than the 

 petioles ; calyx campanulate, pilose ; the segments unequal, lan- 

 ceolate, exceeding the tube; corolla 5-6-times longer than the 

 calyx, scarious, permanent. If. . F. Native about Conception, 

 Chili. Like T. obcordatum, but probably belonging to section 

 Lupinuntcr. 



Gieat-flmvered Trefoil. PI. creeping. 



88 T. RE'PENS (Lin. spec. 1080.) stems creeping, rooting, 

 diffuse, branched at the base ; leaflets obovate-roundish, rather 

 retuse, denticulated : stipulas scarious, narrow, lanceolate, each 

 ending in a long mucrone ; heads of flowers globose, axillary, 

 on very long peduncles ; flowers pedicellate, deflexed after 

 flowering ; calycine segments unequal, tooth-formed, shorter 

 than the corolla ; legume 2-4-seeded ; seeds irregularly ovoid, 

 bay-coloured. 1. H. Native of Europe, in meadows and 

 pastures ; plentiful in Britain, and now cultivated in Jamaica. 

 Sturm, deutsch. fl. 1. fasc. 15. Savi, obs. trif. p. 16. Smith, 

 engl. bot. 1769. Curt. lond. 3. t. 46. Oed. fl. dan. 990. 

 Mart. fl. rust. 34. Corolla white, tinged with purple. White 

 clover is common in pastures through the greater part of Europe, 

 flowering from May to September. There are many varieties of 

 it, depending upon the richness or poverty of the soil. In a 

 fertile moist soil it has a more upright branching stem. On all 

 our good lands it seems to rise spontaneously ; but however this 

 may be, the growth of it is much encouraged by spreading of 

 ashes or other manure. It does not come early, neither is it 

 of a tall growth, but it forms an excellent bottom in pastures, 

 and affords a great abundance of succulent stalks and leaves, 

 affording late feed in dry summers, when grasses are mostly 

 burnt up. Mr. Curtis affirms that a single seedling covered 

 more than a yard square of ground in one summer. It does 

 not seem to be ascertained when this while clover or trefoil came 

 first into cultivation in this country, but it seems to be of late 

 date, for it is not mentioned by Gerarde, Parkinson, or Ray, as 

 an agricultural plant in this country, nor by any of the agricul- 



tural writers of the 1 7th century. Gerarde, however, says that 

 there is a trefoil of this kind which is sown in fields in the low 

 countries of Italy, &c. that cometh up ranker and higher than 

 that which groweth in meadows, and is an excellent food for 

 cattle, both to fatten them and cause them to give great store of 

 milk. Gerarde, herbal), p. 101 8. edit. 1579. White clover \s 

 generally sown in pastures to be fed on the land. The time and 

 mode of sowing is the same as that for red clover, see Trifblium 

 pruttn.se. The nutritive products of white clover, according to 

 Sir Humphrey Davy (the quantity analyzed 1000 parts) whole 

 quantity of soluble or nutritive matter 32 ; mucilage or starch 

 29; saccharine matter or sugar 1 ; extract of matter rendered 

 insoluble during evaporation 5 ; gluten or albumen 3. White 

 trefoil is generally called shamrock, but O^alis acetosella is sup- 

 posed to be the true Irish shamrock. 



far. ft, rubescens (Ser. mss. in D. C. prod. 2. p. 199.) flowers 

 purplish ; stems numerous. About Geneva. 



7 or. 7, luxttrians (D. C. herb.) leaflets 4-6, very large. J. 

 Bauh. hist. t. p. 380. f. 1. 



Var. S, pliijlldntlntm (Ser. 1. c.) segments of the calyx changed 

 into leaflets ; peduncles longish. About Bern and Geneva. 



I'tir. e, ungiticitlatum (Ser. 1. c.) peduncles elongated ; legumes 

 rather foliaceous, pedicellate, much longer than the calyx. 



Var. , pentnp/i i/lluii/ ; leaflets 5. 



Var. r), mgricans ; leaflets 4-5, blackish. 



Far. 0, foiiuccum ; head of flowers having a bunch of leaves 

 rising from its apex. 



White or Sheep's Clover, Creeping Trefoil. Fl. May, Oct. 

 Britain. PI. creeping, foot. 



89 VAILLA'NTII (Poir. diet, suppl. vol. 8. p. 4.) stems branched, 

 decumbent, solid ; leaflets elliptic-obovate, finely serrated ; heads 

 of flowers globose ; flowers pedicellate. If. . H. Native in 

 pastures about Florence and Paris, in the meadows of Swit- 

 zerland, and in the Morea. Mich. gen. 27. t. 25. f. 6 Vaill. 

 par. t. 22. f. 1. Flowers white. 



Vaillant's Trefoil. Fl. May, Aug. Clt. ? PI. decumbent. 



90 T. AMA'BII.E (H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 6. p. 503. 

 t. 593.) plant tufted, diffuse ; leaflets roundish-ovate, denticu- 

 lated, glabrous ; petioles and peduncles pilose ; umbels axillary, 

 8-10-flowered ; peduncles hardly longer than the leaves; caly- 

 ciue segments ending each in a subulate acumen, shorter than 

 the corolla ; legume rather wrinkled, 1 -2-seeded. 1{..G. Na- 

 tive of Mexico, near Tolucca, at the height of 4140 feet. Very 

 like T. repens. Flowers reddish. 



Lovely Trefoil. PI. ^ foot, spreading. 



91 T. AXOMALUM (Schrank, pi. rar. t. 47.) stems creeping; 

 leaves on long petioles ; leaflets obovate or obcordate, black, 

 sharply serrulated ; lower stipulas lanceolate, entire, upper ones 

 broad, crenatcd ; heads of flowers axillary, on long peduncles ; 

 flowers pedicellate ; calycine segments short, unequal, much 

 smaller than the corolla; legume terete, 4-seeded. !(.. H. 

 Native of? Perhaps only a dark-leaved variety of T. repens. 

 Flowers white. 



Anomalous Trefoil. Fl. May, Oct. PI. creeping. 



92 T. UMBELLA'TUM (Ser. mss. in D. C. prod. 2. p. 199.) 

 stems prostrate, pubescent ; leaves petiolate : leaflets obcordate, 

 cuneated ; stipulas lanceolate, cuspidate, foliaceous, nerved ; 

 peduncles filiform, very long; heads umbellate, few-flowered; 

 pedicels pilose, arched ; flowers ascending ; calyxes pilose, 

 striated ; the segments lanceolate and 3-nerved, hardly the length 

 of the corolla ; vexillum denticulated. O- H. Native of Ca- 

 rolina. Flowers white ? 



Umbellate-Homered Trefoil. PI. prostrate. 



93 T. CE'RXUUM (Brot. phyt. p. 150. t. 62.) stem procumbent ; 

 peduncles 3-times shorter than the leaves ; leaflets obovate or 

 oval-cuneated, mucronate at the apex ; stipulas membranous 



