TRIFOLIUM africanum fruticans flore purpurascente. _Comm. Hort. 2.
p. 211. t. 106._
The old authors, and indeed Linnæus himself at first, regarded this
plant as a Trifolium; afterwards the latter changed it to _Psoralea_,
and minutely described it in his _Mantissa_.
As a green-house plant, this small and delicate species has long been
cultivated[5], and still continues to hold a place in all collections of
note.
Its inflorence to us has more the appearance of a _capitulum_ than a
_spike_, and which when the plant is in full bloom, is by no means
ovate, but rather hemispherical; the purple colour of the vexillum,
contrasted with the white of the alæ, gives to the flowers a very
pleasing parti-coloured appearance.
In its leaves we have a good example of the _folium mucronatum_.
It is a native of the Cape, flowers in June and July, and is usually
propagated by cuttings.