TRIFOLIUM. 



a great number of years, and perfuming every thing 

 near it. 



2. T. indkum. Indian Melilot Trefoil. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1077. Willd. n. 2. Ait. n. 2. (Melilotus lutea India; 

 orientalis erefta, foUicuIis rotundis parvis, fpicis florum ex 

 foliorum alis multiplicatis ; Pluk. Phyt. 1.45. f. 4. ) — 

 Clufters cylindrical. Legumes naked, ftrongly reticulated, 

 fiiigle-feeded, obtufe. Stem ereft. Stipulas nearly entire. 

 — Native of the Eail Indies. Cultivated at Oxford before 

 J 680. Annual, flowering in fummer. Smaller and more 

 llender than the foregoing, with lon^ (lender clufters of 

 fmall, yellow, drooping Jioixiers. The leaflets alfo are 

 fmaller and narrower. Legumes not much bigger than 

 muftard-feed, turgid, pale, roundifh-elliptical, ftrongly cor- 

 rugated, with a fort of elevated net-work, and tipped with 

 the capillary ftyle, not properly beaked. Such is the Lin- 

 nxan plant, which does not agree with Willdenow's defi- 

 nition. We cannot anfwer for the varieties enumerated in 

 Sp. PI. Some are faid to have vi\\\\.^J}o'wers. The yellow 

 fades greatly in what we have examnied, before the corolla 

 falls. Willdenow has in his Enumeratio, 789, diftinguiftied 

 the /?, which is Plukenet's t. 45. f. y, as a fpecies, by the 

 name of Melilotus rvgulofa. 



3. T. mej^anenfe. Sicilian Melilot Trefoil. Linn. Mant. 

 275. Suppl. 339. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 3. Sm. Fl. 

 Grxc. Sibth. t. 741, unpublifhed. Desfont. AtlanU v. 2. 

 192. (T. fruftu racemofo ; Bocc. Muf. 163. t. 124. 

 Melilotus mefianenfis procumbens, folliculis rugofis fab- 

 longis, fpicis florum brevioribus ; Raii Hift. 952. Tourn. 

 Inft. 407. M. minima refta lutea, fihquis craflTis curtis in 

 capitulum congeftis, feraine fcenugra;ci ; Morif. v. 2. 162. 

 feft. 2. t. 15. {. g. t. 16. f. 9, very good.) — Clufters 

 fliorter than the leaves. Legumes naked, ovate, pointed, 

 with crowded, concentric, interbranching ribs, fmgle-feeded. 



Stems decumbent Gathered by Ray, in a moift fituation, 



on the tongue of land feparating the port of Meffina from the 

 ftraits of Sicily. Signer Arrofti, who fent us fpecimens in 

 l8ii, informs us this fpecies is not now found about Mef- 

 fma, but in the fields of Girgenti. Profcftbr Desfontaines met 

 with it in fields in Barbary ; and Dr. Sibthorp in cultivated 

 ground every where throughout Greece. It there bears the 

 name of i^^vWi, which belongs indeed to moft of this 

 genus, in modern Greek. Dr. Sibthorp judged it to be 

 the Xulo; iifj-t^n: of Diofcorides, a point equally difficult to 

 difprove or eftabhfh. This fpecies is little known in our 

 gardens, though cultivated in Morifon's time, whofe figure 

 cannot be miftaken. The root is faid to be annual, though 

 furniftied with many little fleftiy granulations, to enable it to 

 refift occafional drought, fuch as occur in Vic'ia lathyroides, 

 and fome other annual vetches. Stems feveral, a foot long, 

 diffufe or procumbent, the central one only being ereft, all 

 ftout, fmooth, leafy, fcarcely branched. Clufers axillary, 

 oblong, hardly longer than the common fool/l alis, ezch on a 

 ihort ftalk, and compofed often or twelve yeWow Jlaivers, 

 twice or thrice as large as the laft. The leaves are not very 

 different. Legume one-third of an inch long, peculiarly dif- 

 tinguiftied by its ovate, oblique, pointed, fomewhat com- 

 prefled, figure, and efpecially the numerous concentric ele- 

 vated lines, hke coiled horfe-hair, more or lefs inter- 

 branching in the middle, which occupy its fides. The 

 luxuriance of the herbage, and the nature of its root, indi- 

 cate this plant as worthy of agricultural experiment, though 

 its procumbent mode of growth may be an objeftion to the 

 mower. It is certainly very different from Mr. Sinclair's 

 T. macrorhizum, Hort. Gram. Woburn. 290, of which we 

 propofe to fpeak under T. ojicinale. 



4. T. mauritan'uum. Barbary Meblot Trefoil. Willd. n. 4. 



Ait. n. 4. Sm. Fl. Graec. Sibth. t. 742, unpublifhed. (Me- 

 lilotus fulcata ; Desfont. Atlant. v.2. 193.) — Clufters longer 

 than the leaves. Legumes naked, nearly orbicular, obtufe, 

 pointlefs, with concentric elevated ribs, fingle-feeded. Stems 

 diffufe. — Native of cultivated fields in Barbary and Sicily ; 

 very abundant about Meffina, according to fignor Arrofti. 

 There can be no doubt as to the fynonym of Desfontaines. 

 We have not feen the work of Schouft)oe, cited by Willde- 

 now. This is an annual fpecies, with numerous branching 

 diffufe Jlems, but more (lender in every part than the laft. 

 Leajiets elliptic-lanceolate, obtufe. Flowers yelldw, fmall, 

 very numerous, in long, llender, Hnear,longifh-ftalked clufters, 

 much exceeding the leaves. Legume hardly fo big as in 7". 

 indtcum, formed as it were of a convoluted line or hair, fome- 

 what in the manner of the laft, but the whole legume is not 

 a quarter fo large, nor has it any elongation or point. Thefe 

 two fpecies have, neverthelefs, been confounded by botanifts, 

 for want of a good figure of the prefent, which deficiency 

 the Flora Graeca will fupply. 



^. "Y. macrorhizum. Long-rooted Melilot Trefoil. Willd. 

 n. 5. " Waldft. et Kitaib. Hung. v. i. 24. t. 26." Ait. 

 n. 5. — " Legumes racemofe, naked, rugofe, fingle-feeded. 

 Stems and branches afcending. Leaflets linear." — Native 

 of moift falt-mar(hes in Hungary. " Root perennial. Seeds 

 toothed above their fear." We have no knowledge of this 

 plant. See T. ojicinale. 



6. T. polonicum. Pohlh Melilot Trefoil. Linn. Sp. 



PI. 1078. Willd. n. 6. Ait. n. 6 Clufters lax, on very 



long ftalks. Legumes naked, t wo-feeded, lanceolate, pointed, 

 tranfverfely corrugated. Stem ereft. Leaflets pointed, 

 nearly entire. — Native of Poland. Sent to Kew garden in 

 1788, by M.Thouin. A very diftinft annual fpecies, of a 

 flender habit. Stem quite round. Leaflets obovato-lanceolate, 

 acutely pointed, rather filky, and fomewhat glaucous, almoft 

 perfeftly entire ; the odd one hardly an inch long. Floiuers 

 yellow, diftant, fmall, on long and flender partial ftalks ; 

 their common ones at leaft thrice the- length of the leaves. 

 Legume rather compreffed, pendulous, a quarter of an inch 

 long, beaked, and tipped with the ftyle, not hairy. 



7. T. fpicatum. Spiked Melilot Trefoil. Sm. Prodr. Fl. 



Grac. Sibth. n. 1 783. Fl. Grace, t. 743, unpubhflied 



Legumes naked, fingle-feeded, fpiked, ereft, corrugated, 

 acute. Stipulas awl-ftapad, entire. Stem ereft — Gathered 

 by Dr. Sibthorp, in the ifle of Cyprus. Root annual. Stem 

 twelve or eighteen inches high, branched and buihy. Leaf- 

 lets obovate, toothed, half an inch long. Spikes ftalked, about 

 as long as the leaves, confifting of yellow, deflcxcd_^owfrj ; 

 when in fruit becoming twice as long, more lax, and fome- 

 what racemofe, the legumes being (lightly ftalked, ereft, 

 roundifti-obovate, with a fliort broad point, tipped with the 

 capillary white ftyle ; their fides marked with concentric 

 elevated corrugations. Seed globofe. 



8. T. dentatum. Toothed Mehlot Trefoil. " Waldft. 

 et Kitaib. Hung. v. i. 41. t.42." Willd. n. 7. Ait. n. 7 — 

 " Legumes ractmofc, naked, two-feeded, fomewhat rugofe, 

 rather acute. Stipulas toothed at the bafe. Stem ereft." 

 — Native of moift meadows in l^pper Hungary. Per- 

 ennial. Abundantly difl"erent from the ojicinale, the leaflets 

 being iharply and doubly toothed ; the /iipulai alfo toothed, 

 and deeply divided at their bafe. IVillderto-M. 



9. T. ojicinale. Common Melilot Trefoil. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1078. Willd. n. 8. Fl. Brit. n. I. Engl. Bot. t. 1340. 

 Mart. Ruft. t. 72. Fl. Dan. t. 934. Sincl. Hort. Gram. 

 ■{Afoburn. 293. ( Saxifraga lutea ; Fuchf. Hift. 749-) — 

 Legujnes racemofe, naked, two-feeded, fomewhat corru- 



fated, ovate, acute-, rather compreffed. Stipulas awl-(haped. 

 tern ereft.— Native of buftiv places, hedges, banks, or cul- 

 H h 2 "vsted 



