Adulterations. 
132 
crass (Setaria glauca and viridis, P. Beauv.) and field chamomile (Anthemis arvensis, 1.) 
also occur. We have never noticed seeds of clover rape (Orobanche minor, Sutt.). 
Adulteration is now rarely attempted. Hop trefoil (Zedicago lupulina) (fig. 56), which 
only costs half as much as red clover is sometimes used for this purpose. The seed of this 
is vellow and the radicle is acutely pointed and projecting at the apex; it is also recognised 
by its very bitter taste and characteristic odour. White and yellow melilots (Melilotus 
alba, Desr. and officinalis, Desr.) are more rarely used as adulterants. These seeds are 
yellow and the taste markedly bitter-sweet. Melilot seed is very readily recognised by 
the odour of coumarine, the substance which gives the characteristic odour to sweet- 
scented vernal grass. 
a 
8 
¢ b c is 
Fig. 56. Fig. 57. 
Trefoil. Ambrosia artemisiefolia, L. 
Medicago lupulina, L. a. Kruit with calyx, natural size. 6. The same, 
. Pod witl isteut calyx < 7. ¢. Fruit without the calyx. d. and e. Seed, 
i Se _ SY pubic f. Longitudinal section of the seed. 
b. Seed, natural size. «. Cotyledon. . Plumule. 47. Radicle. 
c. Beed < 7. (After Nobbe.) 
Small stones are sometimes used as adulterants. Italian clover seed is often »doctored« 
in this way. A peculiar kind of sandstone is wrought at St. Angelo in Upper Italy. ‘The 
grains of sand which compose it are almost identical in size with red clover seed, and, 
when artificially coloured, they are added to it. The seed of Bohemian clover. sometimes con- 
tains sand grains. At Hamburg, a manufactory was actually established for producing 
stone clover seed to be sold to seedsmen for mixture with red clover seed. 
Substitution of clover seed from one country for that from another is more common. 
American seed, for example, is often sold as English or German seed. As already noticed, 
American is inferior to European seed; as it is cheaper, it is often advantageous for 
the seedsman to substitute the former for the latter. The seeds themselves cannot be distin- 
euished but there are other marks by which such a substitution may be detected. A frequent 
impurity of American seed is Ambrosia artemisiefolia, L., (fig. 57) and anthocarpa, L.; if the 
seed of these plants are found, the clover seed is certainly American. The seed of the American 
variety of riberass (Plantago major, L., var. americana) is aless characteristic impurity ; it 
is twisted into a helix. Panicwm capillare, L., is frequent in American seed, but this and 
several species of finger-grass (Digitavia) are also found in red clovers from Southern Hurope. 
American seed almost invariably contains seeds of the dock (Rumex obtusifolius, L.), 
knotgrass (Polygonum Persicaria, L., Timothy, etc. Dodder and stony ingredients are 
rare in American seed. 
