Trifolium ornithopodioides. Birds-foot Trefoil. 



TRIFOLIUM Linttai Gen. PL Diadelphia Decandria. 



Flores fubcapitati. Legumen vix calvce longius, hon dehifcens, decidiium. 

 Rati Syn. Gen* 23. Herbje flore papilionaceo seu leguminos,e. 



TRIFOLIUM ornithopodioides leguminibus nudis o&ofpermis fubternis, calycibus duplo longioribus, 

 caulibus declinatis» Linntei Syjt. Vegetal, p. 571. Sp. PL 1078. 



MEDICAGO leguminibus ternatis, eredtis, recUrvis, defcendentibus, pedunculo communi. Hort. Cliff. ^6. 



TRIFOLIUM filiquofum loto affine filiquis ornithopodii. Pluk. phyt. t. 68. fig. 1. 



FiENUMGRJECUM humile repens, ornithopodii filiquis brevibus ere&is. Rail Syn. p. 331, Fenu* 



greek with Birds-foot Trefoil Pods, tab. 14. fig..i. Hudfon FL Angl. p. 282. 



Oeder FL Dan. icon. 368. 



Llghtfoot FL Scot. p. 403. 



RADIX fimplex, albida, fibrofa, tuberculis obfita, t ROOT fimple, whitifh, fibrous, and befet with little 



I knobs or tubercles. 



CAULES plures, procumbentes, in humidiore aut pin- | STALKS numerous and procumbent, in a moift of 



guiore folo palmares aut fefquipalmares alias $ rich foil from four to fix inches in length, 



vix quandrantales, crafliufculi, et fubrigidi. "| but moft commonly from two to three, thick- 



| ifh for thefize of the plant, and fomewhat rigid. 



? 



FOLIA perexigua, terna, obcordata, profunde denti- | LEAVES very fmall, growing by threes» inverfely 



culata et veluti erofa, laevia, venis reclis non % heart-fhaped, deeply notched, fo as to appear 



ramofis, j^. 7. t as if gnawed, fmooth, the veins ftraight, and 



I not branched, fig. 7. 



STIPULiE ad bafin foliorum binae, magnse, venofae, | STIPULE at the bafe of the leaves two, large, veiny, 

 acuminata^, y and pointed. 



FLORES axillares, carnei, pedunculis breviffimis in- | FLOWERS axillary, pale fed, fitting on exceedingly 

 fidentes, terni, bini aut etiam folitarii. ? fhort foot-ftalks, growing three or two toge- 



| ther, fometimes fingly. 



CALYX: Perianthium tubulofum, quinquedenta- | CALYX: a Perianthium which is tubular, with 



turn, perfiftens, laeve, ftriatum, dentibus a- | five teeth, permanent, fmooth, itriated, the 



cuminatis, nudis, duobus fuperioribus longi- t teeth acuminated, naked, the two uppermofl 



oribus, fig. 1. I longeft, fig, 1. 



COROLLA papilionacea : Vexillum reflexum : Alje | COROLLA papilionaceous; the Standard turning 

 divergentes, fig. 2. | back; and the Wings feparating, fig. 2. 



% 



PISTILLUM : Germen oblongum, villofum, fig. 3. | PISTILLUM : Germen oblong and villous, fig. 3. 



f 

 PERICARPIUM: Legumen magnum, calyce duplo | SEED-VESSEL, a large Legumen, twice the length 

 longius, apice mucronata incurva, in duas val- f °f the Calyx, the tip ending in a point and 



vulas aegre dehifcens, fig. 4, 5. ? bending downward, with difficulty fplitting 



I into two valves, fig. 4, 5. 



SEMINA fex ad decern, difFormia, pallida, maculata, | SEEDS from fix to ten, irregular, pale and fpotted, 

 fig- 6. J fig. 6. 



THIS little plant is perhaps more common in this country than is generally imagined, and has probably 

 been overlooked from its minutenefs. 



. It appears to delight in a dry, expofed, gravelly or fandy foil, in which the Arenarla rubra, Trifolium fub- 

 ierraneum, Fejiaca ovina, and Sagina eredia ufually grow. 



I have found it _ plentifully in Tothill-fields, Wefiminfler, and on Blackheath. Mr. Hudson mentions its grow- 

 ing near Penzance, in Cornwall ; and Mr. Lightfoot in Scotland. 



This plant is not like the Trifolium fubterraneum, ftrikingly vifible at a diftance, but is to be discovered 

 only by carrying the eye near the ground. When once found, there is no difficulty in diftinguiftung it from 

 the other fpecies. Its leaves are fmooth, and much notched or gnawed at the edges ; its flowers are pale red ; 

 its feed-veflels remarkably large, and growing mofr. commonly two or three together, in which ftate they 

 fomewhat referable a_ bird's claw, but not in fo great a degree as the Ornithopus, or true Birds-foot does : the 

 feed-veffels are fometimes fingle. 



Cultivated in a garden, it grows to a much larger plant than is reprefented on the plate» 



