TRIFOLrIUM stellatum.
Starry-headed Trefoil
DIADELPHIA Decandria.
Gen. Char. Flowers more or less capitate. Pod
scarcely longer than the calyx, never bursting-,
but falling off entire.
Sfeo. CHAr. Spikes hairy, ovate. Stipule elliptical.
Calyx-teeth spreading, leafy, equal, taper-pointed,
otems spreading. Leaflets inversely heart-shaped,
toothed. '
Syn. Trifolium stellatum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1083. JVilld.
Sp. PI. v. 3. 1373. Bank. Prod. 143. Ger.
em. 1208.
'T * ste^atum purpureum monspessulanum. Bauh.
Hist. v. 2. 376. f . 2. Moris, sect. 2. t. 13. f . 9 .
Lagopus minor erectus, capite globoso stellate, flo-
ribus purpureis. Barrel. Ic. t. 860.
W E are happy to add the real Trifolium stellatum to the
list of British plants. T. mariiimum was long mistaken for
it, see t. 220, nor did any botanist suspect we had both species
till Mr. W. Borrer found the stellatum, on the 30th of
July 1804, growing in great plenty between Shoreham harbour,
Sussex, and the sea. The two plants are by far too
different to be ever confounded again.
Root annual. Herb varying much in luxuriance, always
considerably hairy. Stems spreading or diffuse, branched,
clothed with soft horizontal hairs. Leaflets obcordate, somewhat
wedge-shaped, abrupt, acutely toothed in the fore part,
strongly ribbed. Flowers in round or ovate heads. Calyx
very hairy, furrowed ; its teeth long and very much pointed,
all regular and equal, becoming leafy and enlarged after
flowering. Its orifice is surrounded with an elegant red and
white circle when about half grown. The standard of the.
corolla is red; the other petals pale red or white.
Gerarde describes this plant well, but gives n<5 figure. He
Saw it in the garden of Tradescant, who obtained it from the
Mediterranean, JcjzP'A. jzSofi.