CHAPTER XXV 



MISCELLANEOUS HERBS USED AS FORAGE 



APART from the grasses and legumes few plants are. 

 worth cultivating for forage and none of these is of high 

 importance. Those discussed in this chapter are the best 

 known. 



687. Mexican clover (Richardsonia scabra) is wrongly 

 named, as it is not clover at all, but belongs to the family 

 Rubiaceoe. In Florida and other Southern States it is 

 commonly called purslane or " pusley." Mexican clover 

 is native to Mexico, and now extends along the Gulf coast 

 and throughout Florida. In the latter region there is 

 some question as to whether it is truly native, as it is found 

 almost entirely in cultivated land. 



Mexican clover is an annual plant much branched from 

 the base, the weak decumbent stems reaching a length of 

 1 to 2 feet ; leaves opposite, simple, entire ; flowers small, 

 pinkish, crowded into close heads. 



Mexican clover is a summer annual springing up in 

 cultivated land in spring after the manner of crab-grass. 

 It is especially abundant in sandy land, springing up after 

 cultivation has ceased in hoed crops, or after early crops 

 have been removed. Under favorable conditions it makes 

 a dense mass of herbage 1 foot to nearly 2 feet deep. 

 The plant is rather succulent and not easily cured into 

 hay, but when well cured is readily eaten by farm animals, 



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