LEGUMINOS^E 



On Nantucket it is a harmless plant of the waste grounds, 

 but elsewhere it is often a pernicious weed, and especially 

 in pastures must be exterminated, for the excessive hairi- 

 ness sometimes collects into hair-balls, that cause a dis- 

 tressful form of death to horses and cattle. 



LEGUMINOS^E PULSE FAMILY 



Trifolium hybridum, L. 



White, pink-tinted Alsike Clover, 



Alsatian Clover. 

 May-October 



Trifolium: for derivation see agrarium. 

 Hybridum: Latin for a mongrel. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: roadsides, meadows, waste 

 places. 



THE PLANT: generally erect, about one foot high; the stem 

 branched, stout, smooth or practically so, rather juicy. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; on long petioles; palmately com- 

 pound, the three leaflets obovate, narrowed or wedge- 

 shaped at the base, stemmed, finely serrate. 



THE FLOWERS: in heads; very sweet-scented, and rich in 

 honey; the withered blossoms brownish. 



THE FRUIT: a pod. 



This is a prettier "White Clover" than the Honey- 

 suckle Clover (the repens}, because these flowers are 

 usually tinted with rose-pink. For identification, a reliable 

 characteristic is the fact that these stems do not root at 

 the joints, and, also, that the leaflets are round at the 

 end. 



154 



