49 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



burying its pods in the earth when they are ripening. The plant has many creeping 

 stems, covered with soft hairs. The heads of flowe;s are cream-coloured, and are 

 produced in the axils. The individual flowers are long and slender ; only a few in 

 each head are fertile, and in this species the petals fall off early. The pod is a 

 compressed orb. Dry, gravelly pastures. May and June. 



II. Hare's-foot Trefoil (T. arvense). Stems almost erect. Flower-heads numerous, 

 dense, cylindric, softly hairy ; flowers pinky-white, minute ; teeth of the calyx 

 longer than the corolla. Corn-fields and dry pastures. July to September. 



III. Common Purple or Red Clover (T. pratense). (See figure.) This is the 

 clover so commonly grown in meadows as an important ingredient in the hay-crop. 

 Its large oval leaflets are frequently marked with a whitish band that takes more or 

 less of a quarter-moon shape. Its flower-heads are round, afterwards becoming 

 longer than broad, purplish red in colour. Calyx-teeth slender, bristly, not longer 

 than corolla. Top of pod dropping off when ripe. This is the clover Darwin made 

 famous by showing that the cultivated forms must die out but for the humble-bees, 

 whose tongues alone are long enough to fertilize its long flowers. Meadows, pas- 

 tures and roadsides. May to September. 



IV. Zigzag or Meadow Clover (T. medium'). Leaflets more pointed than in 

 pratense, and spotless. Stem branched in such a manner as to give it a peculiarly 

 zigzag appearance. Heads larger, and of a deeper purple than pratense. Calyx- 

 teeth half the length of corolla. Pod splitting lengthwise. Pastures, flourishing in 

 lighter soils than pratense. June to September. 



V. Soft Knotted Trefoil (T. str^at^^v^). Stem more or less reclining, downy or 

 silky. Flower-heads both terminal and axillary, small, rosy-red, broader at the 

 base. Calyx-tube swollen, ribbed, contracted at mouth, teeth not so long as 

 corolla. Dry pastures. June and July. 



VI. Rough Rigid Trefoil ( T. scabrum). Stems rigid, prostrate. Leaflets rigid, 

 toothed, the veins thickened. Flower-heads broadest in middle. Flowers small, 

 the corolla white, calyx purple; calyx-teeth as long as corolla. Chalky and 

 sandy pastures near sea. May to July. 



VII. Dutch Clover (T. repens). Stems smooth, creeping, but not rooting. 

 Leaflets often with a dark spot at the base, below a whitish band. Heads of 

 flowers globose, all produced from the axils, on long stalks. The flowers white or 

 pinkish, attached by short stalks, which are recurved after flowering, so that the pods 

 are all drooping. Meadows and pastures. May to October. 



VIII. Strawberry-headed Clover (T.fragiferum). Similar in habit to the last. 

 Flower-head globose, of small purple-red flowers, much larger after flowering, when 

 the calyces swell and take on a red colour, which increases size of head to an inch 

 in diameter, and gives it a strawberry-like aspect. Meadows and pastures. July 

 and August. 



IX. Hop Trefoil (T. procmnbens.) (See Figure on p. 47.) This must not be con- 

 founded with the Hop Trefoil of the farmer (Medicago lupulina), in which the 

 flowers are borne in spikes (see p. 73). The stems are downy, one growing erect, 

 others all round it creeping. The flowers are pale yellow, crowded in the heads, 

 the upper petal (standard) broad, and arched over the straight pod, turning bright 

 brown, which gives the head the appearance of a hop strobile. The pods are 



