54 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



Order XXV. Leguminoscs (19 genera) 



This is a very large and important Order, con- 

 taining a great number of plants useful either for 

 food or fodder. Many species are low-growing 

 plants, others are climbing plants; while others 

 again are shrubs or trees. They are often called 

 Papilionacece, from the resemblance of the flowers 

 of many species to a butterfly. The calyx has 5 

 more or less distinct teeth, and is often bilobate. 

 The corolla generally consists of 5 petals — a large 

 upper one, the standard ; 2 lateral ones, called the 

 wings; and 2 lower ones, usually united, called 

 the keel. There are 10 stamens, either all enclosed 

 in a sheath, or 9 are thus united and the tenth 

 is free. 



The leaves may be either entire, trifid, or highly 

 compound. The fruit is a pod, or legume, con- 

 taining several seeds. 



A number of very handsome plants belong to 

 this Order, a large proportion of them with yellow 

 flowers. One of these is the Furze or Gorse ( Ulex 

 euroficeus), a dark green thorny bush, common 



throughout Western Europe, but very local in Cen- 

 tral, and absent in Northern Europe. It begins to 

 flower very early in the year. It is common in the 

 British Islands ; and when Linnaeus visited England 

 he fell on his knees in rapturous devotion at the sight 

 of the masses of sweet-scented blooming furze. He 

 afterwards tried in vain to grow it in a hot-house 

 in Sweden, for it could not stand the winter. 



An equally beautiful and very similar effect is 

 produced by the fields of sweet-scented yellow 

 Lupines, grown on the Continent to improve the 

 soil. In the autumn the lupines are ploughed in, 

 and it is said that very fine crops of corn are grown 

 in the fields next year. The Lupines (best known 

 to us by the blue garden flowers) belong to the 

 same Order. So also does the Broom (Saro- 

 thamnus vulgaris), a shrub which is common in 

 woods and on heaths, with yellow flowers like the 

 Furze, but with slender thornless branches. 



Seven thousand species are included in this 

 extensive Order. The cultivated plants belonging 

 to it are only secondary in value to the various 

 kinds of corn. 



