DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 405 



pulis oppofitiS membranaceis, coroUis monope- 

 talis. Sj), pL 1082. ^ Mantifs. fecund p. 451. 

 {Moris, hijl.f. 2. /. 12./. 6. Rivin, t. i\. Black- 

 well t. 20. i^ var. Raj, Syn. p. 328. /. 13,/. i.) 



Purple Trefoil or Clover. AngUs, 



In meadows and paftures frequent. 1;. VI-IX. 



The flalks are numerous from one root, reclining 

 at the bafe, and branched : the flipula are vvhiD , 

 marked with red veins, and terminated with ca- 

 pillary beards : the leaves have fhort footfraJks, 

 and are downy, the lower ones of a roundifn oval 

 figure, the upper ones more acute, and generally 

 marked with a white arch : the head of flowers 

 is roundifh, purple, and fefTile, placed between 

 two oppofite, ternate, fefTile leaves, which are 

 fubtended by a pair of broad membranaceous 

 Jlipul^, ferving the purpofe of a common caly>: : 

 the calyic is ftreaked with ten lines, and is tubu- 

 lar and hairy : the fegments are capillary, ciliated 

 on the fides, the lower one by much the longeft : 

 the tube of the Corolla is longer than the Vexii- 

 lum or upper petal, which is plaited, flrait, and 

 refiex'd on the edges. 



It affords a very plentiful fodder to horfcs and other 

 cattle, but when they feed too greedily on the 

 frefh herb, it blows them up in fuch a manner 

 with wind, that unlefs.they are fpeedily relieved 

 by tapping them in the belly, or forae other fimi- 

 lar operation, they foon perifn. In Ireland the 

 poor people, in a fcarcity of corn, make a kind 

 Dd3 of 



