286 



NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W [12 :6-Sept. ,1916 



References: Manual of Insects, Comstock, p. 89; Insect Stories, 

 Kellogg, p. 125 ("The Dragon of Lagunita"); Under the Open 

 Sky, Schmucker, p. 189. 



The sweet pea — This flower, carefully studied, gives the key to 

 the flowers of all that important plant family, the Legumes, which 

 include the clovers, the beans, the locusts, etc. It is a flower full 

 of surprises. Its upper two petals, united, form a banner which 

 it holds aloft, and which envelops at its base two nectar wells; it 

 has two wings which hover over the keel protectingly and afford 

 a pleasing resting place for bee visitors. The keel is a long pocket 

 formed of two petals fastened together with one of Mother Na- 

 ture's nicest seams. Inside the keel are 

 nine stamens with the bases united into a 

 case which surrounds the ovary that later 

 develops into a pod full of peas. One 

 lone, lorn stamen lies by itself just above 

 the others and no one knows why. 



When the bee alights upon the wings, 

 her weight presses down upon the keel, 

 and out of the keel, as smooth as silk, 

 comes a mass of pollen, forced out and 

 plastered on the bee by the unripe stigma, 

 which has a little brush just below it. 



The study of the sweet pea may be made 

 in three lessons : ( 1 ) The bud and the flower, 

 obs. 1-$, p. 651. (2) The fruit and its pod, 

 2, p. 650. (3) The plant and the way it 

 The way the sweet pea climbs is most in- 

 teresting, for it changes the leaflets of its compound leaves into 

 stiff little tendrils which hold firmly to the trellis. The thoughts 

 to be brought out in this study of the sweet pea plant are: com- 

 pound leaves, some of them with leaflets changed to tendrils; the 

 form of the flower ; the form of the fruit and the way the pod opens 

 to scatter it. 



References: First Lessons in Botany, Atkinson, p. 185. 

 Sweet clover — The study of the clovers naturally follows that of 

 the sweet pea. The sweet clover, either the yellow or the white 

 species, may be taken first. The study of the sweet clover should 

 be given in two lessons and one field observation which the pupils 

 may make by themselves. (1) The plant, obs. 5, p. 657. The 



obs. 6, p. 651, obs. 1 

 climbs, obs. 5, p. 651 



