Hillside. 



179 



clings around them in Ireland. The " shamrock " is truly 

 a word to conjure with there, and yet the botanists of the 

 Emerald Isle are not at all agreed as to what plant is the true 

 shamrock. Two share the honour, the Lesser Yellow Trefoil 



FIG. 37. THE PUKPLE CLOVER (Trifolium pratense). 



(Trifolium minus) and Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens\ 

 whilst a very near relation of both is the Piirple Clover, the 

 " holy clover " mentioned by the poet when he sings 



" Woe to the wight, who meets the Green Knight, 

 Except on his faulchion arm, 



