PAPILIONACE^. 99 



1/4 by J^ inch smooth, but with fine long hairs down 

 the sutures, t. 73. Bourne 4772. 



Established in Ootacamund, a native of western Europe, 

 common in England and Scotland on dry hilly wastes. Ger. 

 Ginster, Fr. Genet. 



The mechanism for cross-pollination is interesting. Insects 

 are attracted by the yellow colour of the flowers, but there 

 is no honey, though the reddish streaks at the bottom of 

 the standard would suggest that honey could be found 

 below. The keel petals and wing petals are interlocked by 

 folds near the base of each, and tend to move downwards, 

 but are prevented by the stamens and style held under 

 the rounded tip of the keel. When a fairly heavy bee alights 

 on the flower it grasps the wings with its middle and hind 

 legs, and pushes its forelegs and head down the opening at the 

 base of the standard. In doing this it depresses the wings and 

 keel-petals, and the latter come apart and allow the five short 

 stamens with their stiffer anthers to spring up and scatter pollen 

 on insect's lower surface. Then the longer stamens also spring 

 out and, with a more violent explosion, scatter more pollen all 

 over the bee. The long style, coiled inside the keel, also 

 comes and winds itself round the insect's body, taking any 

 pollen which the latter may have brought from another flower. 

 Once opened in this way the flowers do not close again. 



CROTALARIA. f.b.i. 50 viii. 



The peculiar characteristic of the genus is the inflated 



pod in which the seeds rattle about when ripe, and its 



name is from the Greek KROTALON, a child's rattle. 



Great differences occur in the general habit, some species 

 being trailing plants, others erect herbs, and others again quite 

 large shrubs or small trees. There are differences too in the 

 stipules, for these may be ear-shaped encircling the axis, or 

 prolonged downwards as narrow wings, or absent altogether. 

 Some species are nearly glabrous, others covered with a shiny 

 coating of silky hairs. And by a combination of these 

 characteristics the genus, being a very large one, is conveniently 

 divided into sections. But the flowers are remarkably 

 uniform. 



The calyx has always a short tube and five nearly 

 equal teeth ; the corolla, in all our species yellow, has a 

 7-A 



