PULSE FAMILY 



LEGUMINOS-ffi PULSE FAMILY 



Trifolium pratense, L. 



Magenta and white Red Clover, Broad-leaved Clover, 



Meadow Clover, Sugar-plums, 

 April-November Purple Clover, Cow-grass. 



Trifolium: for derivation see agrarium. 

 Pratense: Latin, to denote belonging in a field. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: fields and waste places; often 

 cultivated for fodder. 



THE PLANT: erect or generally upright, six inches to two 



I feet high, branched; the stem more or less covered with 

 short, soft hairs. 

 THE LEAVES: alternate; palmately divided; leaflets usually 

 three, sometimes four to eleven, oval, oblong or obovate, 

 sometimes nearly one inch long, often dark-spotted near 

 the middle, with a few short, soft hairs, obtuse and some- 

 times notched at the apex, narrowed at the base, finely 

 denticulate. 



THE FLOWERS: usually sessile, rarely peduncled, in globose 

 or sometimes ovoid heads; heads about one inch long 

 and about three-quarters of an inch thick, brown when 

 withered. 



THE FRUIT: a small pod. 



This is the Common Red Clover, with soft head in 

 varying shades of magenta, and white, and usually three- 

 parted, long-stemmed, prettily marked leaves, so familiar 

 to us all. The plant makes good fodder, and the flowers 

 have decorative possibilities, and as everyone knows of 

 the leaflets there may be four, five, or even more! 



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