ON THE WHITE CLOVEK. 
oil 
This very slight sketch of the nature and products of this 
great natural family will be sufficient to show how very impor- 
tant a section of the vegetable kingdom it is. In our own country, 
the representatives of the order are chiefly confined to small 
herbaceous plants ; they all retain the characteristic papiliona- 
ceous flowers and cliadelphous stamens, and are perhaps not 
less valuable for then’ properties than their more showy and 
striking relatives — the inhabitants of warmer climes. To what- 
ever magnificence these may attain, or under whatever form 
they are recognized, we find that they still possess one or other 
of the family features : in many cases the papilionaceous flowers 
have disappeared, but the leguminous fruit remains ; or it may 
be that the flower still retains its butterfly shape, and the form 
of the fruit is changed. 
But to return to our text — the Papilionaceous division of the 
order. The Liquorice of commerce, Glycyrrhiza glabra; the 
Indigo, produced from various species of Indigofera; the Locust- 
tree, which yields such beautiful timber ; the graceful Labur- 
num, with its lovely golden drooping flowers ; the charming 
Wisteria; and the unpleasant substance known as Cowitch, 
which is the sharp hair of the pods or legumes of a species of 
Mucuna, and many other interesting plants, all claim kindred 
under the name Papilionacece, being separated only by generic 
distinctions. Our modest little friend, the White or Dutch 
Clover, belongs to this subdivision, and is referred to the genus 
Trifolium. 
This genus is one of the most extensive in the vegetable 
kingdom. It is known by the flowers being collected together 
in heads. The calyx is tubular, five-parted; the corolla is papi- 
lionaceous, consisting of the five petals which remain after 
decay; the stamens are diadelphous, more or less closely attached 
to the petals ; the legume ovate, with one, two, or sometimes 
three or four seeds. All the species are herbaceous, and are 
included under the general name Clover, which includes some of 
our most important agricultural products. They are annual, 
biennial, or perennial plants, and are distinguished by the triple 
or three-parted leaf ; from which they derive then name Trefle, 
or Trefoil. There are above twenty species natives of Great 
Britain, more or less valuable as fodder, and some of them are 
considered as indispensable to the farmer in the improved 
system of farming by a rotation of crops. The species chiefly 
cultivated are the Purple Clover (T. pratense ) ; Cowgrass, or 
Perennial Clover (T. pratense perenne) ; Alsike Clover (T. 
hybridum) ; Zigzag Clover (T. medium) ; Scarlet Clover (I 7 , in- 
carnatum) ; Hop Trefoil {T. procumbcns) ; and the White or 
Dutch clover (T. repens). 
This latter species is the one about which we are at present 
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