Page:Wayside and Woodland Blossoms.djvu/107

Rh II. Trailing St. John's Wort (H. humifusum). Stems slender, compressed, prostrate, not exceeding a foot. Leaves small, oblong; glands pellucid; the margins are often marked with black glands, and are sometimes rolled back. Flowers, inch across. Sepals unequal. Styles very short. Commons and wastes. July and August. III. Small Upright St. John's Wort (H. pulchrum). Stems slender, round, smooth, erect. Leaves heart-shaped, with pellucid glands. Sepals small, oblong, with black glandular teeth. Petals yellow, tinged with red, and edged with black glands. Styles short; anthers red. Flowers $3/4$ inch, loose panicles. Dry woods and heaths. June and July.

IV. Hairy St. John's Wort (H. hirsutum). Stem erect, round, downy. Leaves large, with short stalks downy beneath, pellucid glands. Sepals very narrow, half length of petals, with black glandular teeth. Woods and thickets, especially on chalk. July and August. V. Tutsan (H. androsæmum). Stem shrubby, compressed, 2 feet high. Flowers few, ¾ inch across. Sepals unequal, glandular, except margin. Petals and stamens not permanent. Stamens in five bundles. Styles shorter than stamens. Hedges and thickets. July to September.

Everybody knows a Clover when he sees it; it is therefore unnecessary to take up our space with a general description, Their great value as pasture plants has caused their typical forms of flower and leaf to be well known; but we have so many native species, to say nothing of the introduced kinds, that few besides botanists and agriculturists are acquainted with their specific characters.

All the Clovers or Trefoils are Leguminous plants, and the structure of the individual flower is very similar to that of Lotus and Vicia; but the flowers are much smaller, and are gathered into a conspicuous head. In certain species there are floral bracts, and in some these form an involucre. It is characteristic of most of the clovers that when the seed is set the petals do not fall off, but simply dry up and wrap round the pod. The name of the genus is Latin, and signifies three-leaved. The principal British species are:— I. Subterranean Trefoil (T. subterraneum), so called from its singular habit of