YELLOW 



WILD INDIGO. 



Baptisia tinctoria. Pulse Family (p. 16). 



Two or three feet high. Stems. Smooth and slender. Leaves. Di- 

 vided into three rounded leaflets, somewhat pale with a whitish bloom, turn- 

 ing black in drying. Flowers. Papilionaceous, yellow, clustered in many 

 short, loose racemes. 



This rather bushy - looking, bright - flowered plant is con- 

 stantly encountered in our rambles throughout the somewhat dry 

 and sandy parts of the country in midsummer. It is said that it 

 is found in nearly every State in the Union, and that it has been 

 used as a homoeopathic remedy for typhoid fever. Its young 

 shoots are eaten at times in place of asparagus. Both the botan- 

 ical and common names refer to its having yielded an economi- 

 cal but unsuccessful substitute for indigo. 



YELLOW CLOVER. HOP CLOVER. 



Trifolium agrarium. Pulse Family (p. 16). 



Six to twelve inches high. Leaves. Divided into three oblong leaflets. 

 Florvers. Papilionaceous, yellow, small, in close heads. 



Although this little plant is found in such abundance along 

 our New England roadsides and in many other parts of the 

 country as well, comparatively few people seem to recognize it 

 as a member of the clover group, despite a marked likeness in 

 the leaves and blossoms to others of the same family. 



The name clover probably originated in the Latin <r/#z/0-clubs, 

 in reference to the fancied resemblance between the three- 

 pronged club of Hercules and the clover leaf. The clubs of our 

 playing-cards and the trefle (trefoil) of the French are probably 

 an imitation of the same leaf. 



The nonesuch, Medicago lupulina, with downy, procumbent 

 stems, and flowers which grow in short spikes, is nearly allied to 

 the hop clover. In its reputed superiority as fodder its English 

 name is said to have originated. Dr. Prior says that for many 

 years this plant has been recognized in Ireland as the true sham- 

 rock. 



144 



