Perennial. Becoming common. Fields and roadsides.

Stems

Erect or ascending, not rooting at the nodes.

Leaves

Long-petioled, compound, of three leaflets; leaflets short-stalked, obovate, narrowed at the base, slightly serrate.

Flowers

In heads, pink and white, reflexed with age.

Calyx

Persistent, five-cleft.

Corolla

Papilionaceous, tubular, the petals having grown together.

Stamens

Ten; nine with filaments united, one more or less separate.

Pistil

One, producing a two to four-seeded pod. Pollinated by bees. Nectar-bearing.

The Alsike Clover is comparatively a recent arrival; its origin is shown by its name; it is a hybrid; Alsike is the name of a parish in Sweden, and the clover is often called Swedish Clover. Its stem system is a delicate form of that of the Red Clover; its flower-heads resemble those of the White Clover. The plant was introduced as a field crop and in moist, cool soils is valuable as such, but evidently the newcomer has found

America congenial and it has moved to the by-ways and the highways, adorns the curb in our northern cities, clings to the borders of fields, and is altogether lovely and delightful.

The leaves are the typical Clover leaf with long stalks, and the leaflets are obovate and unmarked. The heads are loose little balls, the florets rose-colored or rose and white, sweet-scented and rich in honey. The florets wither, become brown, and turn downward after fertilization in the same way as those of the White Clover.

A little later come the Hop-Clovers - low, strag -gling creatures with small heads of yellow florets; also the Rabbit's-Foot with soft and silky grayish heads, and the Buffalo Clover, red and white.

Alsike Clover. Trifolium hybridum

Alsike Clover. Trifolium hybridum