160 



FtELi) AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



partially uncoil, causing the pointer to turn ; and as the carpel dries 

 again the pointer will resume its former position. 



Again, if the carpel be placed horizontally on a sheet of rough 

 paper (not fixed), and then alternately treated with moist and 

 drier air, the successive uncoiling and coiling of the spiral, together 

 with the aid of the bent tip and the hairs which give the carpel a hold, 

 will cause it to travel along. Thus, in its natural condition, and 

 influenced by the varying state of the atmosphere as regards 

 moisture, the carpels of the Stork's-bill will not only travel some 

 distance from the parent plant, but the seed end will even be thrust 

 between the particles of soil, and the seed thus naturally buried. 



There are three British Stork's-bills, of 

 which only one may be described as common. 

 This is the Hemlock Stork's-bill [Erodium 

 cicutarium), a very variable plant as regards 

 the form of the leaves and the size and 

 number of flowers, often plentiful in waste 

 places, especially near the sea. Its stems are 

 prostrate and hairy, growing from six to 

 eighteen inches in length ; and the flowers, 

 which may be seen throughout the summer, 

 are rose-coloured, or, sometimes, white. The 

 petals are not divided or notched, and they 

 soon fall. 



Passing now to the order Leguminosce, we 

 deal first with the exceedingly pretty and common Bkd's-foot Trefoil 

 {Lotus corniculatus), that derives its popular name from the arrange- 

 ment of the cylindrical seed-pods, which spread in such a manner as 

 to resemble the toes of a bird. Its stems are partially prostrate ; 

 and its compound leaves are not composed of three leaflets, as the 

 term trefoil suggests, but of five, two of which occupy such a position 

 that they might be mistaken for stipules. The flowers, which 

 bloom in July and August, are of a bright yellow or orange colour, 

 often tinged with red. They are arranged in umbels of from 

 three to ten, with long peduncles and short pedicels. 



The genus Vicia, of the same order, includes the plants commonly 

 known as Tares. These are climbing plants which cUng by means of 

 tendrils at the tips of their pinnate leaves, and have then- flowers 

 in axillary clusters. Their styles are threadlike, with a ring or a 

 tuft of downy hairs near the extremity ; and the pods are flattened. 

 Two species may be included among our summer wayside 



The Fruit op the 

 Stork's-bill. 



