149 



flowers attended by an elegant, pinnate leaf, like those on the 

 rest of the plant, which are formed of eight or ten pair of 

 opposite, ovate leaflets, with one at the end. The pods are 

 curved upwards and beautifully jointed, like a bird's-foot, 

 hence the name. 



" Did you ever see the Bird's-foot, 



When growing on the sand, 

 A pretty, little, spreading plant, 

 Scarce larger than your hand ? 



" Did you e'er see its whitish flowers, 



All striped and tinged with red, 

 Attended by a light green leaf, 

 And gathered in a head ? 



" Did you e'er see the leaves themselves, 



Of little leaflets made, 

 Or pluck its curved and jointed fruit? 

 If so you've been repaid. 



" If not go search the commons round, 



'Tis delicate and fair, 

 And though so often called a weed 

 It well deserves your care." 



MELILOT. MELILOTUS. 

 COMMON YELLOW MELILOT. Melilotus officinalis. 



Plate 11, fig. 14. 



This grows in the same climbing manner as the Tufted 

 Vetch, before described, and if cultivated would form as hand- 

 some a plant ; that is blue, but our present has yellow flowers, 

 crowded together on one-sided spikes rising from the axils 

 of the leaves. The leaves are in threes, each leaflet ovate, 

 blunt, sharply serrated, with two horns at the base of the leaf- 

 stalk. Calyx small. Pod two-seeded. The name Melilot 

 means the Honied Lotus, and it is so called, because, when 

 drying, the plant has a sweet fragrance like that of honey. 

 O. S. White Melilot, which smells even more sweetly. 



CLOVER. TREFOIL. TRIFOLIUM. 

 WHITE TREFOIL, or DUTCH CLOVER. Trifolium repens. 



Plate 11, fig. 15. 

 Flowers white, large. Stem creeping. Pods with four seeds. 



None other of the English Clovers resembles this in appear- 

 ance ; its flowers are of a pure white, in large, round, long- 

 stalked heads. They droop down when in seed, and thus the 



