IHE PEA FAMILY. 



185 



the white Portugal broom, or Spartium multifi6rum ; the yellow Spanish broom, 

 or S.junccum, with rush-like, nearly leafless twigs ; the bladder senna, or Colutea, 

 with inflated pods resembhng httle bladders, and several species of Cytisus, all 

 more or less shrubby, and excellent for plantations ; and after these a host of 

 herbaceous plants, — the sweet-pea, the everlasting-pea, lupines of a dozen dif- 

 ferent kinds, known at a glance by their cUgitate leaves ; Coronillas, species of 

 Orobus, Galega, Anthyllis, Melilotus, Hedysdruvi, and many more. The whole 

 of them have butterfly -shaped flowers. 



In green-houses, the most consijicuous are the Acacias, those charming Aus- 

 tralian shrubs and trees, decked in spring with innumerable yellow globes the 

 size of a pea, often exquisitely fragrant, and borne in every variety of inflores- 

 cence, from the sohtary and axillary up to immense panicles that float in the air 



Fig. 120. 

 Acacias. 



like golden clouds ; their leaves nearly as various, ranging from the simple and 

 needle-shaped up to the most elaborate doubly-pinnate, as in Fig. 123. The 

 yellow globes are not solitary and individual flowers, but heads of numerous 

 small ones, sessile, and in shape rosaceous, as plainly seen in the unojiened buds. 

 The stamens are numerous, giving the delicately fringed and chenille appearance 

 so remarkable in these elegant plants, and often unaccompanied by pistils ; the 

 bisexual and female flowers being succeeded in due time by long legumes. The 

 marvellous beauty and variety of this exquisite genus of plants can only be esti- 

 mated, as regards Manchester, by those who have had the privilege of seeing 

 Mr. Yates's noble collection at Sale, where they gi'ow almost to the roof, and 



