Trifolium Incarnatum. Crimson Trefoil.

Class and Order.

Diadelphia Decandria.

Generic Character.

Flores subcapitati. Legumen vix calyce longius non dehiscens deciduum.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

TRIFOLIUM incarnatum spicis villosis oblongis obtusis aphyllis, foliolis subrotundis crenatis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 689. Ait. Kew. v. 3. p. 87.

TRIFOLIUM spica rotunda rubra. Bauh. Pin. p. 328.

LAGOPUS maximus flore rubro. The greatest Haresfoot. Park. Th. p. 1106. f. 1.

TRIFOLIUM album incarnatum spicatum f. Lagopus maximus. Bauh. Hist. 2. p. 376.

Of the annual species of Trifolium cultivated by the curious here, this is one of the largest, as well as one of the most shewy; the blossoms in the plants which we have had an opportunity of observing, have been of a bright crimson colour, and have therefore corresponded badly with the name of incarnatum, originally applied to the plant by some of the old botanists, and adopted by LinnÆus; like other Trefoils with red flowers, the blossoms are doubtless found with different shades of colour, and sometimes wholly white.

It is a native of Italy, a hardy annual, cultivated here by Parkinson in 1640, flowers in July, and readily ripens its seeds, by which it is easily raised. It appears to have been lost out of this country since its first introduction, as it is not mentioned by Miller; Mr. Aiton enumerates it among the productions of Kew-Garden, and we last summer saw several plants of it raised from foreign seeds flowering in the garden of John Symmons, Esq. Paddington-House, Paddington, who has to boast a collection of hardy herbaceous plants superior to most in this country; his readiness to oblige me with specimens for drawing on this occasion, and his various acts of kindness exerted in the promotion of my botanical views, I have to acknowledge with much gratitude.

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