24 COMMON PURPLE TREFOIL. 



We have seventeen species of wild Trefoil. 

 Several of them are pnrple, and some are 

 bright yellow, or of a pale larimstone colour, or 

 w^hite. The little yelloAv Trefoil is so common 

 that every one knows it. It is shaped like the 

 Clover, but the heads of the flowers are not 

 larger than a currant. The Common White, 

 or Dutch Clover, is to be found in every 

 pasture land, and is also cultivated for its 

 useful herbage. Indeed, this White Clover 

 and our common purple species are two of 

 the most valuable herbage plants used in 

 European agriculture, and they will grow on 

 any soils, though thriving best on dry chalky 

 lands. The white head of flowers in the 

 Dutch Clover is upright, but the partial flower- 

 stalks bend down when the blossom withers, 

 so that the little pods which hold the seeds 

 hang covered with the petals of the dead 

 flowers. This plant is, by many writers, con- 

 sidered to be the ancient shamrog, the badge 

 of Ireland ; but others believe the original 

 plant to have been the Wood-sorrel. 



