3^4 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



lieads ae^oreoated in coffee-colored clusters at the top of a 

 slender stem from two to five feet liiiib. The stems hear a 

 numher of three-compounded lea\es in which the leaflets are 

 shaped somewhat like those of the willow. ( )ne of these hush 

 clovers has a creeping stem and might he taken for a true clover 

 were it not for the egg-shaped pods which are larger and dis- 

 similar to those of the true clovers. 



Vetches and beach peas. The vetches and heach peas may 

 he recognized, wherever they occur, hy the formation of tendrils 

 at the tips of their leaves. There are ahout ten species in 

 Minnesota. They are found in woods and swales and one 

 variety is very conspicuous on sandy and gravell)' heaches 

 throughout the northern part of the state, heing ]:»articularly 

 abundant at Lake of the Woods and Red lake. This \ariety, 

 which is known as the beach pea, is seen at its best on the sea- 

 shore. The differences in the vetches lie in the shapes of the 

 leaves and ])ods, the colors and sizes of the flowers and the 

 development of the tendrils. In general, however, they are 

 supplied with pinnately compounded leaves with one or two 

 tendrils taking the place of the terminal leaflet or pair of leaflets. 



Wild peanuts and wild beans. Not far removed from the 

 beach peas are the groundnuts, wild peanuts and wild beans. 

 In these there are commonly from three to hve broad leaflets 

 to each leaf. The stems are slender and twine or climb over 

 the vegetation near them. The flowers are small, blue, pink 

 or violet, and are generally gathered together in rather small 

 clusters. These plants are abundant in the edges of woods. 

 The wild ])eanut forms two kinds of (lowers, small piu-ple or 

 white, ordinar_\- buttertly-shaped llowers on l;Ueral racemes, and 

 peculiar little tlowers without i)etals, on certain slender pros- 

 trate stems which trail along the ground. \\y means of these 

 two kinds of tlowers there is no difflculty in recognizing the 

 wild i)eanut. The wild beans resemble the wild ])eanut in their 

 general appearance, but are de\oid of the curious inconsi)icuous 

 flowers. The groundnut usually displays l"i\e leaflets in each 

 leaf instead of three, biU has the same slender \ine-like habit 

 of growth that characterizes the others. All these ])lants will 

 be found in thickets and underbrush, trailing or climbing over 

 the bushe> and ihu^ exposing their own toliage to the light. 



