BUR CLOVER (Medicdgo denticulata, Willd.). Flowers very 

 small, bright yellow like specks of gold, 2 or 3 together on an 

 axillary footstalk, rising out of clover-like leaves with slashed 

 stipules, and succeeded by curious little pods coiled twice and 

 armed with hooked prickles. Blooming from January to 

 June, and common everywhere. 



The BUT Clover is an Old World plant of some forage value 

 a native of the Mediterranean region, which has become 

 introduced on the Pacific Coast, though nobody knows just 

 when or how. Possibly the seeds, which, being prickly, cling 

 very persistently to any likely hold, stole into California on 

 the wholly back of sheep which the Missionary Fathers had 

 brought over from Spain. The plant withers away with the 

 coming of the dry season, and then the ground will be strewn 

 ^ith the brown mature seed vessels, which are exceedingly 

 nutritious and eagerly eaten by sheep and cattle. 



Sometimes also found wild in California is the similar 

 Medicago lupulina, L., the Black Medick of the Old World, 

 but its more numerous flowers are in stout spikes, and its pods, 

 which are black when ripe and kidney-shaped, are without 

 prickles. 



