THE CLOVER FAMILY 



the laburnum had probably seen comparatively 

 few vicissitudes in the course of its evolution, and 

 consequently, it most likely retains best the main 

 characteristics of the ancestral type. 



Now, the raceme of yellow flowers was, I 

 think, the kind of inflorescence possessed by the 

 progenitor of the Pea-flower family. M}^ reason 

 for thinking this is because all the other forms of 

 floral arrangement in the family could be readily 

 produced from a raceme such as that of the labur- 

 num by simple modifications. In the vetches 

 (which probably best represent the leaves of the 

 family ancestor) and wild peas we have presented 

 every gradation from the clustered raceme with 

 numerous flowers to those of two or three flowers 

 only, and finally to solitary blooms in the axils 

 of the leaves, such as those of the broom and 

 gorse. 



Now it only needs a glance at Fig. 91 (Plate 65) 

 to see that the heads of Dutch clover there shown 

 consist of numerous small flowers — pea- flowers — 

 with the youngest in the centre and the older 

 flowers forming the outer whorls of the group. 

 Similar methods of grouping often occur when the 

 individual blossoms are small. It will be remem- 

 bered that the wild camomile, the coltsfoot, and 

 the Composite family generally, arrange their 

 minute flowers into compact heads. By thus 

 grouping themselves, such tiny flowers can make a 

 larger show and so succeed better in attracting the 

 attention of passing insects. 



Indeed, it is quite a common device amongst 



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