TRIFOLIUM. 



Melilots, with which the prefent fpecies is afTociated entirely 

 on account of its many-feeded, tranfverfely furrowed, pro- 

 minent, bivalve legumes, whicli moreover are umbellate, not 

 racemofe. This fpecies therefore connefts the Melilots by 

 Its fruit, with the true Trefoils by its habit, ftipulas, iiiflo- 

 refcence, &c. We fliould gladly have retained the genus 

 MelUotus, adopted of late, from preceding writers, by 

 Willdenow in his Enumcratlo Plant. Hort. Bcrol. had we 

 found his generic charafters faithful. Thefe are the deci- 

 duous corolla, and the burfting legume, longer than the 

 calyx. But the legume of moil of the Melilott does not 

 burll, any more than that of a genuine Trifolium. Their 

 general habit indeed, and their peculiar odour, agree far 

 better with Tiugonella, (fee that article,) than with 

 Trifolium. 



Seft. 2. LoTOlDEA. Legumes covered by the calyx; with 

 feveral feeds. 



17. T. Lupinafler. Baftard -lupine Trefoil. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1079. Willd. n. 12. Ait. n. 12. Mart. Ruft. t. 16. 

 Curt. Mag. t. 879. (T. leguminibus polyfpermis, foliis 

 pluribus; Gmel. Sib. v. 4. 19. t. 6. f. I.) — Flowers in 

 Ihort unilateral tufts. Leaflets five, without a naked com- 

 mon ftalk. Legume with many feeds Native of Siberia. 



Obferved alfo near Conftantinople by the abbe Seftini and 

 Dr. Sibthorp. It fometimes appears in our gardens, from 

 exotic feeds ; but though hardy as to cold, does not endure 

 long. The root is naturally perennial, tap-ihaped. Stems 

 ereft, fimple or branched, a foot, more or lefs, in height. 

 Leaflets lanceolate, about an inch and half long, fmooth, 

 elegantly veined and finely toothed, ufually five, rarely fix 

 or feven, each on a minute partial ftalk, crowning the ribbed 

 common one, which is bordered all the way up, on each fide, 

 with a long and broad membranous Jlipala. Flowers crim- 

 fon, occafionally white, numerous, handfome, in terminal 

 heads; their partial ftalks direfted one way, hairy, each 

 with a little cup-like membranous hraciea at the bafe. 



18. T. reflexum. Reflexed American Trefoil. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1079. Willd. n. 13. Ait. n. 13. Purfh n. i. 

 (T. capitulis fruftiferis reflexis, &c. ; Gron. Virg. ed. 2. 

 110.) — Heads reflexed when in fruit. I^egumes three- 

 feeded. Stem procumbent. Leaves downy. — On dry 

 hills and among rocks, in Pennfylvania, Kentucky, and on 

 the mountains of Carolina, flowering in June and July, 

 perennial. Flowers of a fine purplifli-red. Purfh. Mr. 

 .Tohn Hunnemann is recorded as having fent this Trefoil to 

 Kew in I 794. We have never met with a fpecimen. The 

 leaflets are defcribed as obovate, flightly ferrated, foft and 

 downy, variegated with white. Flovjers largs and hand- 

 fome, in terminal and axillary heads. Seeds two or three in 

 each legume. 



19. T. aiigulaliim. Angular Trefoil. Waldfl:. et Kitaib. 

 Hung. V. I. 26. t. 27. Willd. n. 14. Ait. n. 14. — 

 Heads reflexed when in fruit. Flowers with partial fl;alks. 

 Legumes four-feeded. Stem decumbent, zigzag, angular 

 and furrowed Native of Hungary, on a faline ioil. An- 

 nual. Sent to Kew by Mr. Hunnemann, in 1803, where it 

 flowers from June to Auguft, in the open ground. Stems 

 branched, fmooth. Leaflets obovate, fliarply toothed, emar- 

 ginate, pointed. Heads, or rather denfe umbels, ftalked, 

 conipofed of ftalked, red, reflexed_y?ottwj-. Calyx fmooth, 

 with nearly equal awl-fhaped teeth. Willd. 



20. T.flriaum. Upright Small Trefoil. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1079. Willd. n. 15. Ait. n. 15. " Waldft. et Kitaib. 

 Hung. v. I. 36. t. 37." (Trifohaftrum pratenfe annuum 

 eredlum minimum, fohis longis anguftis pulchr^ venatis ac 

 tenuiflinie ferratis, floribus albis, in capitulum fphsricum 



congeftis, filiquis minhnia difpermis ; Mich, Gen. 2> t. 2C 

 f. 7.) 



/3. T. Isvigatum ; Desfont. Atlant. v. 3. lor. t. 208. 

 Willd. n. 16. ^^ 



Heads nearly globofe. Legumes two-feeded. Stem 

 ereft. Leaflets lanceolate, finely ferrated. Stipulas rhom- 

 boid, toothed at one fide — Native of Italy, Spain, France, 

 Hungary and Barbary. Micheli gathered it in various grafly 

 or heathy places about Florence, flowering in May. The 

 root is annual. Leaflets fomewhat hke thofe of T. Lupinafler, 

 n. 17, in fliape, but the lower leaves have a long common 

 footfall. The Jipulas are remarkable for their fquare figure. 

 Heads of ^owiT/ fmall, denfe, on long, fohtary, axillary 

 ftalks. Corolla white. Legume halfKJvate, with a recurved 

 beak. We agree with Willdenow, though we have not 

 compared fpecimens, that the plant of Desfontaines is very 

 near that of Micheli. Indeed we cannot find marks to de- 

 fine it as even a variety. Linna»us adopted his T-fridum 

 from the laft-named author, in writing the fecond edition of 

 1^. PL, but before that work was printed, he obtained a fpe- 

 cimen of what he thought the fame, and this is elabo- 

 rately defcribed there, though the crofs annexed to the fpe- 

 cific charafter, as in the original manufcript before us, indi- 

 cates his not having feen the plant. What he there defcribed 

 is r.^arTj/^oruffi of Ehrhart, Willdenow's n. 56, our n. 66. 

 We muft prefume that this defcription, according fo very 

 ill with what profeftbr Desfontaines found in Barbary, pre- 

 vented his recognizing the Linnasan plant. 



■2,1. T.csfpitofutn. Tufted White Trefoil. Willd. n. 17. 

 Reynier Mem. pour fervir a I'Hift. Phyf. et Nat. de la 

 Suifle, v. I. 162, with a plate, under the French name of 

 Trefe gazonant. (T. Thahi ; Villars Dauph. v. 3. 478. 

 t. 41.) — Heads roundifli. Flowers flightly ftalked, eredt. 

 Legumes moftly four-feeded. Leaflets obovate, minutely 

 toothed. Stems decumbent, tufted, fliorter than the flower- 

 ftalks. Native of the mountains of Switzerland and Dau- 

 phiny, in barren, wafte, or trodden places. This moft re- 

 fembles our Common White Trefoil, or Dutch Clover, 

 hereafter defcribed, but the ftiort, depreflcd, enlangXedJlems, 

 though compofing a denfe turf, do not creep. The root is 

 woody and perennial. Stalks of the fowers, and even qf the 

 leaves, longer than the ftems ; the former terminal, folitary, 

 ereft, from two to five inches in length, bearing a globular, 

 but flightly racemofe, head of white flowers, purplifli at the 

 bafe, lefs deprefled than in T. repens, but we find no per- 

 ceptible difference as to the comparative inequahty of their 

 calyx-teeth. Legume fmall, elliptical, comprefled, ftrongly 

 ridged at each margin, beaked with the permanent^/?;'/*' and 

 c?i^\tiie fligma, enveloped in the dry, brown, ribbed corolla, 

 and containing three or four ixnzA feeds. No valuable pro- 

 perties with refpeft to agriculture have been difcovcred in 

 this plant, nor has it been hitherto raifed in England. 



22. T. hybridum. Mule White Trefoil, or Tall Dutch 

 Clover. Linn. Sp. PI. 1079. F'- Suec. 258. Willd. 

 n. 18. Ait. n. 16 ? (T. flore albo ; Rivin. Tetrap. Irr. 

 t. II. f. 2. T. n. 368 ; HaU. Hift. v. i. 160. Trifohaftrum 

 pratenfe corymbiferum, ereftum, annuum et praealtum, caule 

 crafliore fiftulofo, &c.; Mich. Gen. 28. t. 25. f. 2, but not 

 f. 6. Melilotus qui Trifolium oriontale altiflimum, caule 

 fiftulofo, flore albo ; Cor. Intt. R. Herb. 27 ; Vaill. Parif. 

 t. 22. f. 5.) — Heads globofe. Flowers ftalked. Legumes 

 two-feeded. Leaflets elliptical. Stem ereft, zigzag, hol- 

 low, many-flowered. — Native of Tufcany, in places where 

 water has ftagnated in winter. Micheli. Of Sweden, in 

 open fituations on a clay foil. Liimitus. In meadows of 

 the Morca. Sibth. Root annual, according to Micheli, to 



whom 



