THE CLOVERS 
121 
composed of many florets, we do not discover, until we 
separate them, that the blossoms are papilionaceous; but 
it is owing to this form that they are so easily dispersed. 
They have, besides, little pods for seed-vessels, which 
would confirm the fact of their being leguminous plants. 
The common white or Dutch trefoil (Trifolium ripens) is 
the Irishman's shamrock. It w^as in high repute among 
the Druids, either as a charm against evil spitits or for 
some supposed medicinal virtue. The legends of Ireland 
tell how St. Patrick explained the doctrine of the Trinity 
by its triple leaflets to the Pagan Irish, till they became 
his converts. Some years ago the white clover was culti- 
vated in small patches about Edinburgh, in order that the 
Irishmen who w^ent thither to the University might have 
a piece of shamrock to dress their hats on the day of their 
patron saint. The ancients represented Hope by a. little 
child standing on tiptoe, and holding a trefoil in his hand. 
Some of the trefoils, besides those commonly called 
clover, are very pretty. There is one species, called the 
strawberry-headed trefoil, which immediately reminds us 
of the fruit from which it is named ; and several downy- 
looking trefoil flowers grow in the meadows. 
In former times, when charms were worn by the super- 
stitious to protect them from ghostly intruders, the trefoil 
was considered among the most potent; but the spirits of 
old times, w^hich, as the poets tell, 
“ Had haunts in dale or piny mountain, 
Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring, 
Or chasms, or watery depths — all these have vanished. 
They live no longer in the faith of reason.” 
The climate of England is, on account of its moisture, 
considered less favourable to leguminous plants than that 
of drier regions. They extend, however, from regions 
bordering the perpetual snows, increasing in abundance 
in the temperate and torrid zones. In tropical countries 
— in those lands so full of gorgeous and beautiful vege- 
tation — this tribe of plants displays its chief beauty. We 
read of the glowing tints of the coral tree (Bauhinia), 
whose deep-red butterfly-shaped flowers crown even the 
lofty summits of the trees of western woods ; and who has 
