1254 
MESSRS. J. B. LAWES, J. H. GILBERT, AND M. T. MASTERS, 
Trifolium reopens. 
The common white clover has a long, deeply penetrating, tap-root, giving off 
numerous rather thick, wiry, flexuous branches, studded with little tubercles, and 
descending obliquely into the soil. The stock gives off numerous, slender branches, 
creeping on the ground over and between the leaves and stems of neighbouring plants, 
arid producing abundance of fine fibrous adventitious roots. The leaves are small, con¬ 
sisting each of three rounded flat leaflets, which in the young state are folded in halves, 
and so occupy comparatively little space. It flowers from. May to October, but is 
rarely seen in fruit on the plots, its propagation being mainly secured by means of the 
creeping branches. The plant, moreover, is peculiarly subject in some seasons to 
have its floral organs more or less completely replaced by leaves. 
The common white clover is one of those plants which is particularly liable to make 
its appearance on reclaimed land from estuaries and the like; also on land over which 
fire has passed, and often on new-made ground, seeming thus to have special capacities 
for availing itself of the conditions so afforded. 
The structural endowments specially favourable to its diffusion are its hardiness 
and power of adaptation, as shown by its wide geographical distribution, its two-fold 
root power—the long tap root enabling it to derive moisture and nourishment from 
the lower layers of the soil, and thus to be comparatively independent of drought, 
while the abundant adventitious roots emitted from the creeping branches enable it to 
avail itself largely also of the surface-soil supplies. The trailing branches and closely 
folded young leaves also give the plant the advantage of making its way in between 
its neighbours, and so enabling it to avail itself readily of any vacant space. Its 
hard resisting seed-coat enables the seed to lie in the ground for long periods until 
circumstances become favourable for germination. 
The following table shows the relative degree of predominance of this plant. 
