158 



EECEEATIVE SCIENCE. 



WAYSIDE WEEDS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 



IN SIX HANDFTJLS. — HANDrUL II. CONCLUPED. 



Wk now turn our attention literally to 

 the business, or at least to the flowers, in 

 hand. We have found that they are many- 

 petaled, and that petals and stamens by their 

 attachment to the calyx afford us a character 

 which is a common bond of union ; but 

 after this, we must confess, we cannot show 

 you any great resemblance. Vetch or pea 

 tribe, rose or apple tribe, and hemlock tribe, 

 to say nothing of saxifrage and willow herb, 

 are not very similar. 



Fig. 31. — Petals of Common Broom, separak ;il. 

 a, standard ; b b, wings ; c, keel. 



Pull this broom to pieces ; it is an excel- 

 lent example of its order. Off" come its 

 petals one by one (Fig. 31), and an irregular 

 lot they look. In truth, the pea-flowering 

 tribe, in this country at least, has very ir- 

 regular flowers, by which we mean that they 

 can only be divided one way into two equal 

 halves. You pull off the petals and the 



stamens remain (Fig. 32), and there they 

 will remain, even 

 long after the 

 flower has with- 

 ered and fallen, 

 as we see in the 

 example (Fig. 33). 



T-. <^.^ r, 1 , ' X- 1 Look closely at 



liG. o3. — Calyx and essential •' 



organs of Common Broom, the stamens (Fig. 



a, calyx; b, stamens; c, 32) after detach- 



curved style. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ 



You will perceive they are all joined together 

 at the base by their filaments, and surround, 



as it were, the 

 pistil which in 

 the broom (Fig. 

 32) has a pecu- 

 har curve. This 

 pistil enlarges 

 into the seed- 

 pod or legume 

 (Fig. 33), and 

 from this form of 

 seed-vessel the 

 whole of these 

 vetch and pea 

 plants have ta- 

 ken their family 

 name of Legu- 

 FiG.33.— Pod or Legume of Com- minous Plants; 

 mon Broom, a, legume ; b, albeit they have 

 persistent calyx ;c, remains of ^^^1^^,. name, 

 stamens ; a, remains of stigma. 



taken from the 



fancied resemblance of some of the pea- 

 blossoms to a butterfly, and hence they are 

 sometimes called Papilionaceous Plants. The 

 peculiar form of these butterfly -like petals 

 has procured for them the names which are 

 appended to the figure. You can scarcely 



