LEGUMINOS^ 



33 



until they finally shrivel up and decay: the plant grew and 

 formed its root, its stem, and the first pair of leaves, all at the 

 expense of the seed-leaves. These were packed full with provisions 

 such as the young plant would require at its first stage of growth. 

 This food is, in the case of the Gram and many other plants, de- 

 posited in the seed-leaves themselves, whereas we find the food- 

 store in a separate tissue, called endosperm, in the seeds of Rice 

 and many other plants. 



2. The Stem of the Horse Gram Plant is long and filiform 

 and, therefore, cannot stand erect with its heavy load of leaves, 

 flowers and pods. Many of these 

 plants, as they are grown in the 

 rice fields after the paddy is re- 

 moved, do not find a support 

 but trail along the ground. 

 Their ends are raised and the 

 tips of their stems are often 

 slightly inclined and keep mov- 

 ing in a circular way as if 

 they were seeking something to 

 fasten on. When a support is 

 found, their stems twine round 

 it and the tips continue their 

 circular movement. This move- 

 ment is made in a direction 

 contrary to that of the hands of 



a clock. There are other plants that move in the same direction 

 as the clock's hands, e.g. Dioscorea. 



3. Leaves. — (a) The first two foliage leaves are opposite 

 and simple, as we have seen already. The succeeding ones are 

 alternate and compound, consisting of a symmetrical leaflet at 

 the end and two oblique leaflets on the sides. At the base of the 

 common petiole as well as of each leaflet there is a pair of small 

 appendages, called stipules. 



(b) In the daytime the leaves are generally spread out 

 horizontally; but when darkness sets in, the common stalk of 

 the three leaflets begins to rise up, and the three leaflets descend 



3 



Fiff. 30. — Stern of the Horse Gram. 



