TRIFOLIUM. 



tivated fields, on clay or marie, throughout Europe, flower- 

 ing in June and July. Not rare in England. Dr. Sib thorp 

 met with it in moill low fituations, throughout Greece and 

 the Archipelago, and confirmed the old opinion, of its being 

 the fxiXiXuloi of Diofcorides. From this old Grecian's ve- 

 nerable authority the plant has long been efteemed medicinal, 

 but is now out of ufe; nor is it cultivated, with us at leaft, 

 for any agricultural purpofe. The feeds, even in a very fmall 

 quantity, poifon the flavour of flour. Martin, Sinclair. 

 The root is annual. Stem branched, two or three feet, or 

 more, in height, angular and furrowed. Leaflets dark green, 

 fmooth, obovate, ferrated. Flowers full yellow, veiny, in 

 long denfe chjlers. A'ff/and tvings equal, and nearly as long 

 as the Jlandard. Legume hairy, tranfverfely wrinkled, but 

 not very ftrongly. Stigma capitate. 



Mr. Sinclair's fpecimen named T. tnacrorhizum, in his 

 elaborate and very valuable agricultural work, the Hortiis 

 Gramineus Woburnenfis, 29 1, does not exhibit any marks of 

 fpecific difference from the officinale, of which however it ap- 

 pears to be an important variety, differing in its biennial root, 

 larger leaflets iXi^floiuers. The/eeJs are two in each legume, 

 never, as is fometimes the cafe witli the ojiciiiale, more than 

 two. It produces a great crop of fodder, or hay, at the 

 time of flowering, but little afterwards. If kept from 

 flowering, the root will laft four or five years. Such is 

 Mr. Sinclair's account, who neverthelefs now candidly 

 affents to our opinion of its being a variety. We have no 

 means of afcertaining whether this may be Willdenow's 

 macrorhizum, our n. 5, but it does not anfwer to his charac- 

 ter. We can vouch for its being widely diff^erent from mef- 

 fanenfe, n. 3. Can it be Willdenow's ojfficinale y ? 



10. T. germanicum. White German Melilot Trefoil. 

 (T. officinale /5 ; Willd. n, 8. Sm. Prodr. Fl. Graec. 

 Sibth. V. 2. 94. Melilotus ; Rivin. Tetrap. Irr. t. 6 ? 

 M. geimanica ; Ger. Em. 1205. M. vulgaris ; Willd. 

 Enum. 790. M. officinarum germanix, flore albo ; Tourn. 

 Inft. 407. Lotus fylveilris, flore albo ; Tabcrn. Kreu- 

 terb. 893.) — Legumes racemofe, naked, fingle-feeded, 

 corrugated, obovate, acute. Stipulas fetaceous. Stem 

 eredl. — Native of cultivated fields in Germany. Dr. Sib- 

 thorp obferved it near Theflalonica. Root biennial. Stem 

 taller than the lafl. Floivers wtiite. JVings longer than 

 the keel, though fliorter than the flandard. Tlie figure of 

 Rivinus anfwers better to this defcription than to our com- 

 mon T. ojflcinale, and was probably taken from wliat is the 

 moil ufual German plant. We have never compared fpeci- 

 mens, but muft obferve, that thejlipiilas are fometimes per- 

 fectly fetaceous in our ojficinale.- — Gerarde feems to have 

 been well acquainted witli the germanicum, as was alfo his 

 editor Johnfon. 



11. T. Kochianum. Scentlefs Melilot Trefoil. (Meli- 

 lotus Kochiana ; Willd. Enum. 790.) — " Legumes race- 

 mofe, naked, two-fceded, nearly even, ovate, acute, com- 

 prefTed. Stipulas toothed. Stem afcending." — Native of 

 Germany. Biennial. Without fcent. Corolla yellow ; its 

 ■wings the length of the keel, but Ihorter than the Jlandard. 

 Willd. 



12. T. Petitpierreanum. White Single-feeded Melilot 

 Trefoil. (Melilotus Petitpierreana ; WiUd. Enum.' 790.) 

 — " Legumes racemofe, naked, fingle-feeded, corrugated, 

 obovate. Stipulas fetaceous. Stem afcending." — Native of 

 Germany. Biennial. Corolla white ; its luings longer than the 

 keel, and equal to ihejlandard. IVilld. The author whom we 

 quoteacknowledges his obligations to the accurate Dr. Hayne 

 for diftinguifhing the three lafl fpecies from T. officinale. 



13. T. italicum. Italian Melilot Trefoil. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1078. Willd. n. 9. Ait. n. 9. (Melilotus ilalica ; 



Camer. Hort. 99. t. 29, excellent. Willd. Enum. 790. ' 

 M. fihculis pendentibus, curtis, lutea, &c. ; Morif. feft. 2. 

 t. 16. f. 4.) — Legumes racemofe, naked, two-feeded, ellip- 

 tical, obtufe, ftrongly corrugated and crifped. Stem ereft. 

 Leaflets roundifh-obovate, nearly entire — Native of Italy, 

 Barbary, and Greece. Dr. Sibthorp gathered it on the 

 dry parts of the famous mount Hymettus, near Athens. ' 

 This fpecies has long been cultivated in curious gardens, 

 both in England and on the continent. Gerarde defcribes 

 it under his Melilotus, n. 2, but the figure does not agi'ee. 

 The root is annual. Stem flout, angular, leafy, about two 

 feet high, overtopped, as tlie fruit advances, by the numer- 

 ous, elongated, upright, cylindrical clujlers, of pendulous, 

 roundifh-elUptical legumes, each as big as a fmall pea, con- 

 fpicuous for their ftrong, prominent, zigzag, and plaited 

 wrinkles, by which the prefent fpecies is clearly diflinguifhed. 

 Its leaflets moreover are of a much broader and rounder 

 figure than any of the foregoing, rather wavy than ferrated. 

 Stipulas ovate, taper-pointed, toothed. Flowers yellow, m 

 Dr. Sibthorp conjeftured, with great probability, that this I 

 might be the kind of Melilot, mentioned by Diofcorides 

 as growing in the fouth of Italy, about Nola, of a yellowifli 

 colour, and weaker fcent. 



14. T. hamofum. Hooked Melilot Trefoil. Bieberft. 

 Taur. V. 2. 207.' ( Foenugraecum meliloti facie minus ; 

 Buxb. Cent. 2. 39. t. 44. f. I ?) — " Legumes racemofe, 

 naked, compreffed, fingle-feeded, ribbed, hairy, with a 

 hooked point. Stipulas awl-fhaped, undivided. Stems 

 afcending." — Gathered by tlie chevaHer de Steven, in 

 Georgia, and the foulhern part of Tartary. " The root is 

 annual, fimple. Stems feveral, from three to nine inches 

 long, rarely more, flightly branched. Cluflers axillary, 

 ilalked, fhort and fomewhat capitate. Flowers yellow, the 

 fize and fhape of T. officinale. Calyx hoary. Legume ovate, 

 deflexed, hoary ; fmooth at the bafe ; terminating in a long 

 inflexed point. Seed kidney -Ihaped, of a dirty yellow. 

 Leaffets wedge-fhaped, fliarply toothed. Stipulas fmall." 

 We have feen no fpecimen. 



15. T. creticum. Cretan Melilot Trefoil. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1078. Willd. n. 10. Ait. n. 10. (T. pehatum 

 creticum; Bauh. Pin. 329. Prodr. 142, with a figure. 

 Morif. feft. 2. t. 14. f. 3.) — Legumes racemofe, naked, 

 two-feeded, membranous, comprefTed, bordered', nearly 

 orbicular. Stem afcending. — Native of Crete, Greece, and 

 Barbary. Root annual. Stem branched, twelve or eigliteen 

 inches high. Leajlets broad, thick and flefhy, hke thofe of 1 

 T. italicum, bordered with (hallow teeth, inodorous. Flowers 1 

 pale yellow. Legumes very remarkable for their broad, 

 elliptical, nearly orbicular, flattifh figure, half an inch in 

 diameter, in loofe cluflers, two or three inches long. They 

 are reprefented much too turgid in the above engravings, 

 efpecially in Morifon's. 



16. T. ornithopodioides. Bird's-foot Trefoil. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1078. Willd. n. II. Fl. Brit. n. 2. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 1047. Curt. Lond. fafc. 2. t. 53. Fl. Dan. t. 368. 

 ( Fcenugrascum humile repens, ornithopodii filiquis brevibus 

 ereftis; Raii Syn. 331. t. 14. f. i.) — Legumes about three 

 on a ftalk, naked, eight-feeded, twice the length of the 



calyx. Stems procumbent Native of England, France, 



and Denmark, on barren gravelly heaths, among fliort grafs, 

 flowering in June and July. The fibrous annual root is 

 furnifhed with flefhy tubercles, fuch as are mentioned under 

 n. 3. Stems moftly fimple, depreffed, two or three inches 

 long, clothed with little leaves, refembling many of tlie 

 third feftion, the llalks of the leajlets being all equal ; and 

 neither they, nor the (lender pale-purple flowers, two or 

 three on each fhort axillary ftalk, having any af&nity to the 



Mcli- 



