180 FAMILIAR FEATURES OP THE ROADSIDE. 



leaves. We can not proceed a dozen feet along the 

 highway without passing at least two species of 

 clover. The red clover {Tnfolium pratense) is that 

 commonest of all kinds, which bears on the face of 

 the leaflet the looplike band of whitish green. It is 

 largely dependent upon the pollen-dusty bumblebee 

 for fertilization ; the crimson-red florets have such 

 deep tubes that only the bumblebee with her long 

 tongue succeeds in reaching the nectar in their 

 depths.* The honeybee is only partially success- 

 ful ; her tongue is too short, and she never attacks a 

 blossom with the burly vigor and dauntless purpose 

 of the bumblebee. The other common species is the 

 white clover {Trifolium repeni), none other than the 

 shamrock of Ireland. I have before me as I write 

 a cluster of the tiny leaves which but recently came 

 from the Emerald Isle ; they are quite like our own 

 white clover, but smaller. We can hardly claim an 

 American origin for this species, as Gray says it is 

 indigenous only in the Northern part of our range if 

 at all. As for the red clover, that also came to us 

 from Europe. The white clover, which is extremely 

 abundant along the grassy borders of the roads in 



* The first red clover which was imported into Australia failed 

 to produce seed; the flowers were entirely dependent upon the 

 bumblebee for fertilization, so the insect had to be imported also 

 for this especial purpose. 



