140 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
pratensis), a very pretty plant with yellow flowers 
that may be found in hedge or copse in almost any 
part of the country. From the 
creeping rootstock several weak 
stems arise which have the ap- 
pearance of being very leafy, 
but one-half of the apparent 
leaves are really enlarged stip- 
ules. The true leaves have been 
broken up into a pair of leaflets, 
Y and between these the leaf-stalk 
is continued some distance, and 
probably branches into several 
very slender tendrils which curl 
tightly round the stems and 
leaf - stalks of neighbouring 
plants. The original Lathyrus 
—like some existing species— 
most likely had several pairs 
of leaflets, but was under the 
necessity for devising means 
for hauling its weak stem up 
to the hight, so the upper ones 
were reduced to the mere mid- 
rib which became a _ tendril— 
in some cases branched. In the Peas and Vetches 
all kinds of variations in the leaflets and the 
tendrils will be found, with enlargements of the 
stipules to make them serve as leaves where these 
have been converted into tendrils. In this species 
it will be noticed that the stipules are very large 
and conspicuous, and of the shape known as 
arrow-headed, due to their prolongation backwards 
