170 LEGUMINOSiE. Trifolium. 



•♦♦ Corolla yeUaw turning brown when old, scarums and persistent : flowers in ovate heads, deflexed when old : calyx not 



inflated after flowering, 



5. Trifolium agrarium, Linn. Yellow Clover. Hop Clover. 



Stem ascending or erect, minutely pubescent ; leaves on rather short petioles ; leaflets 

 cuneate-oblong or obovate-oblong, often emarginate, denticulate, all nearly sessile ; stipules 

 foliaceous, linear-lanceolate, cohering with the petiole for more than half its length ; heads of 

 flowers dense, on rather short peduncles ; teeth of the calyx unequal ; vexillum striate when 

 old ; legume 1-seeded. — Pursh.fl. 2. p. 478 ; Torr. compend. p. 266 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 205 ; 

 Beck, hot. p. 79 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 408. 



Root annual. Stems about a foot high, usually growing in patches, branching. Leaflets 

 nearly an inch long, smooth. Heads of flowers about half an inch in diameter, on rather short 

 peduncles, mostly terminal. Calyx nearly smooth ; the two upper teeth shorter. Corolla at 

 first bright yellow, but of a chestnut brown when old. 



Sandy soils and dry woods, in various places along the Hudson, particularly in the vicinity 

 of Troy. Shore of Lake Ontario, near Sacket's-Harbor {Dr. Knieskern). Fl. June - Au- 

 gust. Introduced from Europe. 



12. MELTLOTUS. Toum. imf. 406. t. 229 ; Endl gen. 6510. MELILOT. 



[ From the Gieek, me2, honey, and lotui, a leguminous plant so called.] 



Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla deciduous : vexillum free, longer than the wings : keel petals 

 completely united, cohering witH the wings, free from the stamen-tube. Style terminal, 

 filiform. Legumes coriaceous, globose or ovoid, longer than the calyx, scarcely dehiscent, 

 1- or few-seeded. — Annual or perennial (odorous) herbs. Leaves pinnately trifoliolate : 

 leaflets mostly toothed ; the veins simple or forked. Stipules growing to the base of the 

 petiole. Flowers in axillary somewhat spiked racemes, yellow or white. 



1. Melilotus officinalis, PFiM Yelloto Melilot. 



Stem erect ; leaflets obovate-oblong, obtuse, remotely serrate ; racemes loose ; teeth of the 

 calyx unequal, as long as the tube ; corolla (yellow) more than twice the length of the calyx ; 

 petals nearly equal in length; legumes ovoid, wrinkled, 2-seeded. — Willd. enum. p. 190; 

 Ell. sk. 2. p. 199 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 186 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 130 ; Torr. ^ Gr. fl. 

 N. Am. 1. p. 320. M. vulgaris, Eat. man. ed. 7. p. 391. Trifolium officinale, a. Linn. 

 T. officinale, Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 272 ; Engl. hot. t. 1340. 



Root annual. Stem 2-4 feet high, smooth, with spreading branches. Leaflets about an 

 inch long, sharply serrate. Racemes 2-3 inches or more in length ; the flowers retrorsely 

 imbricated, about 3 lines long. Style long and tapering. Legume about 2 lines long, gibbous. 



