specimen given in outline, on a dry fence at Cagewith, near
Ruan Minor, Cornwall, where, in company with Mr. Ba-
bington, he first observed this Trefoil in July 1839. On
both occasions the plants were in a very stunted state, and
all found in one spot only. The latter circumstance
might lead to some doubt whether they were truly native,
the previously noticed localities of the species being in the
very South of Europe, with the exception of one place in
Anjou* ; yet the situation seems to preclude such doubt,
especially as the plant is scarcely known in gardens. It
bears moreover so much general resemblance to T. striatum,
although perfectly distinct, that it may probably have been
overlooked elsewhere. It appears to have been first published
in 1697, by Boccone, whose name Savi first attached
to it in the Transactions of an Italian society.
Root annual. Stems several (except in starved plants),
round, pubescent; the central one erect, the others longer
and procumbent. Leaves on short stalks, the uppermost
almost sessile ; leaflets very short-stalked, obovate or subrhomboid
on the lower leaves, oblong-lanceolate on the
upper, more or less conspicuously denticulate, smooth on
the upper surface, slightly hairy beneath and at the edges.
Stipules connected by a narrow amplexicaul base, somewhat
membranous, with coloured nerves, obliquely triangular,
with a curved, herbaceous, subulate point ; even those
under the terminal heads but slightly dilated. Heads of
flowers at first ovoid, soon becoming cylindrical, sessile in
the axillae of the leaves ; the lateral ones sometimes on the
stem itself, which then becomes flexuose, more generally
on branches, w'hich are mostly short and simple, but in
luxuriant plants are again divided and spread at a wide
angle ; the penultimate head usually, and sometimes the
next below it, close to that which terminates the stem or
branch. Flowers sessile, densely crowded : calyx elliptical,
obsoletely angular, pale, covered with appressed hairs ; the
nerves but slightly prominent, especially the intermediate,
ones ; teeth unequal, green or reddish, tapering, acute,
* In the supplementary volume of the serts T. collinum, Bast. Fl. de Maine et LoFirleo,r ea sF rpaenrçhaaipses, DdiesCtianncdt;o lbleu t inin
his later works it is referred to T. Bocconi.
straight, or somewhat connivent, shorter than the tube,
neither expanded nor dilated after flowering, nor is the tube
inflated. Corolla not much longer than the lowest tooth
of the calyx, white, or tinged with pink, soon turning brown :
standard but little exceeding the other petals, straight, compressed;
its border oblong, not widened upwards. Pod
membranous, subglobose, containing one small yellow seed,
with a little prominence over the radicle,—an appearance
owing, as Mr. Babington observes, rather to a contraction
of the testa on each side than to any real prominence of the
radicle itself. He also remarks that the filaments are more
decidedly thickened upwards, with a sudden contraction at
the top, in the stamina of T. Bocconi than in those of the
species nearly allied to it.
In T. striatum the leaves are of a broader figure, and
hairy on both sides ; indeed the whole plant is more hairy.
The stipules are much larger, especially those that subtend
the heads. The heads are soft, of fewer, larger, and less
densely crowded flowers. The calyx-tube is deeply grooved,
more ventricose when in seed, with ten strong nerves, its
teeth less unequal and more spreading. The seed is twice
as large, its radicle not prominent. Seringe in DeCand.
Prod, describes it “ badium.” We find it sometimes brown,
sometimes yellow, possibly from a difference in the ripening.
This plant flowers earlier than T. Bocconi.
We are indebted to Mr. Woods for assistance in the
synonymy.—W. B.
a. Seed, natural size; b. the same magnified.