Crimson Clover.Trifolium pratense.
Found, from June to September, growing in meadows, fields, and waysides.
The stalk (from 6 to 15 inches high) is rather large, branching, leafy, strong-fibred, grooved slightly, and roughened by the presence of short hairs. Color, light green.
The leaflets are 3, of varying shape, oval, long oval, or heart-shaped; the margin is slightly irregular, the texture thin; the color is a fine cool green, lighter underneath, and the upper surface of each leaflet is marked with a pale triangular patch in the middle. The leaf is set on a slender stem, with a pair of bristly-pointed, woolly, green and white, membrane-like wings at the junction of the stalk; the arrangement is alternate.
The corolla is large, its upper petal narrow and erect; in color, all shades of crimson to a violet tint. The 5-parted calyx has long thread-like feathery tips; it is light green. The flower-head is large, close, and round or oval; it is set on a terminal or side stem. Beneath the head, like a collar, are found 3 membrane-like leaves.
The violet-crimson flower-head is modified, by the green calices, into excellent harmony with the fine cool green of the leafage.