PEA FAMILY 1 25 



14. T. suffocdtum (Suffocated Trefoil). — A small, slender, gla- 

 brous, prostrate plant, with its stem usually buried in sand ; 

 small white flowers in ovoid heads, which are often confluent ; 

 calyx-teeth lanceolate, longer than the corolla, recurved but not 

 spiny in fruit. — Sandy sea-shores ; rare. — Fl. June, July. Annual. 



15. T. strictum (Upright Round-headed Trefoil). — A small, 

 ascending, glabrous species ; leaflets linear-lanceolate, toothed ; 

 flowers small, rose-coloured, in stalked globose heads ; calyx-teeth 



subulate, spreading. — Rocks, Jersey and the Lizard, where it was 

 first found by the Rev. C. A. Johns in 1847 ; very rare. — Fl. June, 

 July. Annual. 



**** Heads many-flowered, axillary : throat of calyx 

 glabrous ; pod 1—6-seeded 



16* T. hybridum (Alsike Clover). — A tall, erect, branched, 

 glabrous plant ; petioles long ; stipules leafy, ovate-lanceolate ; 

 flowers white or pale pink, becoming brown, in stalked, globose, 

 drooping heads ; calyx-teeth nearly equal, subulate, erect. — A cul- 

 tivated plant, introduced from Alsike, near Upsala, Sweden. — Fl. 

 June — September. Perennial. 



17. T. repens (White or Dutch Clover). — Stem creeping ; leaflets 

 often with a white band and a purplish spot near the middle; 



flowers stalked, white, sometimes tinged with pink, fragrant, fading 

 to brown and bending downwards, in roundish heads ; pod 4- 

 seeded. — Abundant in meadows, where it forms excellent pasture. 

 In a variety commonly cultivated in gardens, under the name of 

 Shamrock, nearly the whole of the centre of each leaflet is tinged 

 with dark purple. The real Shamrock is probably this species or 

 any other " 3-leaved grass " ; but some antiquarians contend that, 

 as Ireland was well wooded ( in St. Patrick's time, it was probably 

 a leaf of the Wood-Sorrel (Oxalis Aceiosella) that the Saint selected 

 to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. On St. Patrick's Day 

 (March 17th) the distinctive characters of the trefoils are scarcely 

 developed. — Fl. all through the summer. Perennial. 



18. T. fragiferum (Strawberry-headed Trefoil) has the habit of 

 the preceding ; but the flowers are rose-coloured, and the large 

 globose heads of inflated calyces, enclosing the 1 — 2-seeded pods 

 and often tinged with pink, are not unlike the fruit from which the 

 plant is named. — Damp meadows ; not very common. — Fl. July, 

 August. Perennial. 



19.* T. resupindtum, a similar species, but with shorter peduncles, 

 smaller bracts, and reversed (resupinate) flowers, occurs as a 

 casual.^-Fl. July. Annual. 



20. T. proc&mbens (Hop Trefoil). — A small, downy plant with 



