LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 15 
marvellous things. Rub one gently with a bit of straw and it will 
answer to the touch by bending. Give it an opportunity to grasp 
the branch of an adjoining plant and it will embrace the branch so 
firmly that it will be impossible to loosen the plants without breaking 
the tendril. It has the faculty of feeling and the ability to act. Its 
sensitiveness is so great that some tendrils can feel a weight of only 
a quarter of a milligram. 
Two appendages, 
the stipules, are at- 
tached to the base of 
the leaf stalk (Fig. 6, 
St.). They are gener- 
ally narrow and in- 
significant, but some- 
times, as in peas, 
they are shaped like 
the leaflets and are 
almost as large. 
Inflorescence: The 
flowers of leguminous 
plants are in clusters 
which, however dif- 
ferent in appearance, 
are always construct- 
ed after the same 
principle. Sometimes 
they are long and 
comparatively sparse- 
ly covered with flow- 
ers, as in  vetches 
tie-0- sUestot Blsike Clover. (Plates 24 and 25). 
Sissi They are then called 
racemes. In other plants the racemes are short and the flowers 
crowded, as in Red Clover and Alsike. The inflorescences are then 
called heads. It is, however, impossible to draw a sharp line between 
a head and a raceme, the inflorescences, for instance, of Alfalfa 
(Plate 21) and Crimson Clover (Plate 17) being as much like 
short racemes As elongated heads. 
Flowers: The flowers of all leguminous plants are alike in general 
construction and totally different from the flowers of other plant 
