ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 537 
“ Flowers whitish, rose colour, purple, or yellow, in heads 
or compound spikes, which are axillary or terminal and 
generally many-flowered. 
“ The name of this genus at once expresses its peculiarity, 
coming from Ires, the Latin word for three, and folium, a leaf, 
all the species having trifoliate or three-parted leaves. The 
Greeks call it rpicjjv AAov, the French trejie , and the English 
trefoil or clover. 5 ’* 
Our remarks will now be confined to two species of what 
are commonly styled “ red clovers, 55 which may, for prac¬ 
tical purposes, be distinguished as under : 
Trifolium pratense .—Red Meadow Clover. Flowers all 
shades of purplish red. Leaflets 
more or less inclined to be ob- 
cordate or emarginate, with a 
semilinear white mark in the 
centre of each. 
,, medium .—Zigzag Clover. Flowers in large 
bright pink heads. Leaflets ovato- 
lanceolate, most without the white 
spot, which is, however, sometimes 
feebly indicated. 
The red or meadow clover is generally met with all over 
the country. It is common to all meadows and pastures, 
road-sides, and wild, open fields, only, however, in its wild 
state, favouring soils that have a fair proportion of lime, and 
hence occasional liming or marling of pastures is of import¬ 
ance, as favouring the growth and continuance of clover. 
This species is so commonly cultivated by the farmer that 
it has spread all over the world, and hence in America it 
has been introduced more especially as a soiling plant, and 
some of the largest varieties are commonly used in the States 
much as we employ vetches in England. 
The wild meadow clover is a much smaller plant than the 
cultivated forms, which latter are now so much used for 
shifting crops that much trouble has been exerted in getting 
such strains as will produce heavy crops. 
As one of the very best popular accounts of the uses and 
value of red clover has found its way into the grand, new 
edition of f English Botany, 5 as we expect, contributed by 
Mrs. Lankester and her late talented husband, we cannot 
resist quoting it: 
# See ‘English Botany,’ vol. iii, pp. 35 and 36. 
