TRIFOLIUM fubterraneum.
Subterraneous Trefoil.
DIADELPHIA Decandria.
G em . C h a r . Flowers m o re o r lefs c a p ita te . Pod
fc a rc e ly lo n g e r th a n th e c a ly x , n e v e r b u r f tin g , b u t
fa llin g o f f e n tir e .
S p e c . C h a r . Heads hairy, o f about four flowers.
Involucrum central, reflexed, rigid, ftar-like,
embracing the fruit.
S y n . Trifolium fubterraneum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1080.
Sm. FI. Brit. 783. Hudf. 328. With, 647.
Hull. 163. Relh. 279. Sibth, 228. Abbot. 161.
Curt. Land. fafc. 2. t. 34. .
T . p um ilum fu p in um , flo fcu lis long,is a lb is. Rail
Syn. 327. t. 13. ƒ. 2.
M o r e generally abundant than the preceding in the fame
kinds of fituations; in Greenwich park, Hyde park, and on
Blackheath, its white flowers are vifible among the fhort
grafs in May, at the fame time that Sagina eretda puts forth
its pearly blofloms.
The root is annual, furnithed with knobs like the laft.
Stems proftrate, fpreading clofe to the ground, almoft concealed
by the broad theathing ftipulae of the numerous leaves.
Leaflets obcordate, hairy on both tides, entire. Flower-ftalks
bearing 3 or 4 flowers, at firft ereCt, but before the fruit ripens
they are bent to the ground, producing from their extremities
little white thick fibres, ftar-like at their tips, which become
recurved and rigid, enveloping the fruit. Thefe look fo like
roots, that, till Mr. Curtis explained their economy, every body
miftook them for fuch, and Dillenius (aware that the plant,
being an annual, did not propagate itfelf by thefe fuppofed roots)
conjectured they might draw moifture to nourilh the feed. The
long (lender milk-white petals render this fpecies confpicuous,
though, when firft feen, they are feldom taken for the flowers
of a Trefoil. The calyx-teeth are long and hairy. Pod thin,
containing one dark-brown feed.