T. PKATENSE, L. RED CLOVER. 8S8 



T. pratense, L. Red Clover, «road leaved Clover, Comnion 

 Clover, Early red clover or el.— More or less pubescent, leaftets 

 oblong, stipules membranous, free portion appressed to the peti- 

 ole, heads terminal, sessile, globose, at length ovoid, subtcnted 

 by opposite leaves with much dilated stipules, calyx-teeth slen- 

 der, setaceous, erect, or spreading in fruit, the lowest longest. 



Pastures, roadsides, etc., ascending to 1,000 ft. in the High- 

 lands [of Great Britain] ; flowers from May to September. An- 

 nual, biennial or perennial. S/eois 0-24 in., .solid or fistular, 

 robust or slender. Leaflets \-Z in., often marked with a white 

 spot or lunate band, finely toothed; stipules often 1-1^ in., with 

 long setaceous points. Iletuls ^-1\ in. diam., pink, purple or 

 dirty white. Cahix-fiibe with a 2-lipped connection in the throat, 

 strongly nerved : teeth not exceeding the petals, very slender, un- 

 equal. Pod opening by the top falling off. Found in Europe, 

 N. Africa, Siberia, W. Asia to India ; introduced in X. America 

 certainly before the Revolution. 



Early History. — Although in a general way this is a plant 

 familiar to all farmers, there are many things in regard to its 

 habits, variation and other peculiarities yet to learn. The ex- 

 pression "To live in clover" has become proverbial, and is 

 another way of designa' ing a good living. With a field of clover 

 knee high, or up to the eyes, means fat cattle and swine and 

 bunchy sheep. Some one styles the plant ** The red plumed 

 commander-in-chief of the manurial forces." 



Red clover was known and prized over 2,000 years ago by the 

 Greeks and Romans, but it can hardly be said to have been cul- 

 tivated, even in the simplest way, till used in England about 

 1G33, — 2G3 years ago, or 44 years before the cultivation of peren- 

 nial rye grass, and nearly 100 years before that of any other of 

 che true grasses. 



Fio. 128.— IW/olium protetue, L. {Red Clover), part of a plant and a flower enlarged. 

 — (Sudwortb.) 



