; r o . [ io49 ]
TRIFOLIUM fufFocatum.
Suffocated Trefoil.
DIADELP HIA Decandria.
G en. Char. Flowers more or lefs capitate. Pod
fcarcely longer than the calyx, never burfting, but
falling off entire.
S p e c . C h a r . Heads leffile, lateral, roundifh, nearly
fmooth. Calyx-teeth lanceolate, acute, recurved,
longer than the corolla.
Sy n . Trifolium fufFocatum. Linn. Mant. 2.-276.
Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 2. 3 5 7 * Sm. FI. Brit. 790.
With. 656. Hull. 164. Jacq. Hort. Vind. t. 60.
1 H IS , more truly a fubterraneous plant than the fpecies
defcribed in our preceding page, grows in the loofe blowing
fand of the fea fhore, beneath- which its ftems and flowers are
often entirely buried, the leaves only peeping above the fur-
face. Hence perhaps it has been overlooked, as fome common
fpecies not yet in flower. The accurate Mr. Wigg firft
detected it at Yarmouth. Our fpecimens were gathered at
, Landguard fort, Suffolk, by the late Mr. W. R. Notcutt,
F. L. S. an ardent naturalift, who has fince fallen a victim to the
climate of Surinam, and whofe lofs, however great to fcience,
is mod irreparable to his friends.
This is an annual fpecies, flowering in June and July.
Root tapering, its fibres deftitute, as far as we have obferved,
of tuberous fwellings. Stems horizontal, fhort and zigzag,
moftly under ground. Leaves on very long footftalks, fmooth,
their leaflets wedgefhaped and finely toothed. Stipulse membranous,
broad, with remarkably fpreading points. Flowers
in feffile axillary round heads. Body of the calyx a little hairy:
teeth bent back, broad, acute, fcarcely enlarged after the flowering.
Corolla much fhorter than the calyx-teeth, clofed fo as
to protect the organs of fruftification, which therefore perform
their functions though buried in fand. The exclufion of light
often renders the petals whitifh; otherwife they are rofe-
coloured. Pod oblong, containing two yellowifh feeds.