292 23. LEGUMINOS^. 



and often by the coincident breaking up of the land, the 

 Trifolium repens rapidly becomes luxuriant in size and 

 quantity, and produces numerous flowers on elongated pe- 

 duncles. It thus becomes conspicions to the eyes of those 

 casual observers who overlooked it in its previous weakly, 

 stunted, flowerless or feebly-flowering condition, half hid 

 by taller herbage. The turning up of the soil, does not 

 destroy the white clover, as it destroys many other kinds 

 of plants ; for its creeping stems, ever ready to throw out 

 roots, and to regain hold of the ground although cut in 

 pieces, afibrd natural means of rapid increase, such as 

 are not possessed by many of the plants which would be 

 its companions on those infertile grounds which are sought 

 to be improved by turning and liming. 



268. Trifolium subterraneum, Linn. ^ ^. /y/J^.4^£ 



Area 1 2 3 4 5 * 7 8J^ * [11]. 



South limit in Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Kent. 



North limit in Anglesea and Nottinghamshire. 



Estimate of provinces 8. Estimate of counties 25. 



Latitude 50 — 54. English type of distribution. 



Agrarian region. Inferagrarian zone. 



Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



Ascends to 50 or 100 yards, in England. i 



Range of mean annual temperature 52 — 48. 



Native. Glareal. As this species may be easily over- 

 looked by botanists, and there seems no reason for pre- 

 supposing its absence from the province of South Wales, 

 an addition of one is made to the provincial estimate. 

 Doubtful whether 20 or 25 would be the truest county es- 

 timate : at present, the species is recorded only from 17 or 



II 



