302 The* B Rt A Tel SHH®. HiES RBA Zi 
We have obferved on preceding occafions, that the placing too many fpecies under one com. 
mon term or generical name, is making the greateft of all difficulties in the fcience. This is no 
where fo evident as in the prefent inftance; the fpecies of the trefoil, according to Linnzus, being 
too numerous for any rational method. : : ; 
It is plain that author acted from neceffity in this inftance; his method allowing no generical dif- 
tinétions to be formed upon any part befide the flowers and fruit. But this is the great inconvenience 
of that method; and indeed it is fo great, that, were there no other reafon, it alone ought to prevail 
againft the reception of his fyftem. He is obliged to acknowledge, that his generical character of 
the ¢refoil is imperfect: and he attempts to palliate the imperfection, by obferving, that other authors 
have fucceeded no better who have taken in the confideration of the leaves: but there is more chance 
for a certain and diftint character, when thefe are taken to affift in the forming it, than when the 
flowers are confidered alone. This is what we fhall attempt in the diftinctions of the fucceeding genera. 
DAIVel Sak Oo Nese: 
i. Common white Trefoil. 
Lrifolium pratenfe album, 
The root is long, flender, and hung with many 
fibres. 
The firft leaves are fupported on long, flender 
footftalks, of a pale green: three leaves grow on 
each footftalk; and they are of a deep green, 
broad, fhort, and marked with a white fpot 
ufually in form of a crefcent in the middle. 
The ftalks are numerous, fhort, and procum- 
bent : they divide into branches as they run upon 
the ground, and fend out in an irregular manner 
a great many leaves of the fame form and ftruc- 
ture with the firft, and the ftalks for the flowers 
among them: thefe are flender, like thofe of the 
leaves, and of the fame pale green. 
The flowers are fmall and white; and they 
ftand a great many together, in a round, thick 
head. 
The feed-veffel is fhort, and contains four 
fmall feeds. : 
It is common in our meadows and paftures, 
and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Trifolium pratenfe album; 
and moft pthers ufe the fame name. 
It varies extremely in dry and barren foils. 
Some have from this accident made feveral ima- 
ginary fpecies; and, on the other hand, others 
have fuppofed this itfelf not diftiné& from the 
common red trefoil, but only a variety. This is as 
great an error as the other. The colour of the 
flower is the leaft diftinétion between them, as will 
be feen on comparing the defcriptions together. 
2. Long-flowered white Trefoil. 
Lrifolinne album flofculis longioribus paucis. 
The root is long, flender, and furnifhed with 
numerous fibres. 
The firft leaves are placed three together on’ 
flender footftalks: they are fhort, broad, and 
dented at the end, or regularly heart-fathioned ; 
and are of a pale green. 
The ftalks fpread about the ground: they are 
numerous, weak, and of a whitifh colour. 
The ‘leaves on thefe are like thofe from the root: 
they are alfo of a pale green, and alittle hairy. © 
The flowers are white: they grow at the ex- 
tremities of the ftalks, and on pedicles rifing 
from the bofoms of the leaves : they do not grow 
in round heads, but only two or three together. 
The feed-veflels are fhort, and the feeds are 
few. 
BR heh S HS Bab Col cbs: 
It is fingular in this plant, that the feed-veffels 
frequently hanging fo as to touch the ground, 
take root: they are fometimes drawn under the 
furface, or detained fo clofe to it, that duft falls 
over them, and buries them. In this condition 
the feeds grow beft of all, and fpeedily furnith 
abundance of new plants. 
The natural fize of the plant is not larger than 
the leaft of the bop-trefoils, its branches three 
inches or more in length; but it will fometimes 
grow much bigger. 
It is common in dry paftures, and fowers in 
June. 
Ray calls it Trifolium pumilum fupinum flofealis 
longis albis. Morifon, rifolum album tricoccum 
Subterraneum articulatum. Others, Trifolium folli- 
culos fub terra condens. 
3. Yellowith- flowered Trefoil. 
Trifolium hirfutum majus flore albo-fulpbureo, 
The root is compofed of~numerous flender: 
fibres. 
The firft leaves are placed on long footftalks, 
three on each; and they are oblong, narrow, 
of a dufky green, not at all ferrated; but poined 
at the ends. 
The ftalks aré numerous, flender, branched, 
of a yellowifh green, and about a foot high. 
The leaves on thefe are larger than thofe from 
the root, otherwife like them; and generally they 
are bigger toward the top of the plant than on the 
lower parts of the ftalks. 
The flowers grow in a long and large clufter, 
and they are of a very pale yellowifh white. 
The feed-veffels are fmall, and the feeds are 
minute and few. 
We have it in dry paftures not unfrequently, 
It flowers in June. : ( 
Ray calls it Trifolium pratenfe birfutum majus 
Store albo-fulphureo, five ochro leuco. The older 
writers were not acquainted with ir. 
fs Common red Trefoil. 
Trifolium purpureum vulgare. 
The root is compofed of numerous fibres. 
The firft leaves are placed on flender footftalks, 
three on each; and they are broad, fhort, and 
of a deep green. 
The ftalks are numerous, and of a pale green: 
they are flender, branched, and eight or ten 
inches in length; but they ufvally trail in part 
upon the ground, 
The 
