THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 193 



SUMMER AVILD FLOWERS. 



(Continued from page 168.) 



fY this time the furze and broom have had their share of 

 our admiration, if they have had but littleof our attention. 

 They represent the great natural order of Papilion- 

 aceous plants, so named because of the resemblance of 

 their flowers to butterflies. They are also called Fa- 

 baceous, because of the peculiar bean-like pod in which their seeds 

 are produced, " fahia " being the Latin for a bean. The fabaceous 

 plants rank second only to the grasses in value as ministrants to the 

 economy of animal life, for they produce food for man and beast in 

 vast abundance, and, generally speaking, the aliments derived from 

 this family are of the highest character in point of nourishing power, 

 all of them contributing largely to the nourishment, not only of the 

 muscular and bony frame-work, but in a peculiar degree also to the 

 nervous system, owing to their richness in nitrogen and salts of 

 phosphorus. In a majority of cases the fabaceous or leguminous 

 plants have pinnated leaves ; that is to say, each separate leaf con- 

 sists of a series of symmetrical divisions united by a common stem. 

 In the laburnum, locust, and acacia trees, we find the leaves to be 

 formed on the same plan aB in the commonest vetch, for these are 

 all members of the Leguminosa? ; but in the vetch the pinnated 

 leaf terminates in a tendril, whereas in all the trees of the family 

 the leaves are destitute of tendrils. An interesting exception occurs 

 in the case of the Judas tree, Cercis siliquastvum, which you may 

 find in many a good garden ; in this case the leaves are entire and 

 orbicular ; but the pretty pink flowers are as like those of a pea as 

 are those of the Common Rest Harrow, Ononis arvensis, a pretty, 

 low-growing, thorny shrub, with rosy-pink flowers, which you may 

 now find on many heath lauds and sandy waysides. The Common 

 Broom, Ci/tisus scoparius, may be studied with advantage as a 

 representative plant. The leaves are in threes, and remotely resemble 

 those of the clover, which also belongs to this family. The flowers 

 are formed, like those of the pea, with five petals, so disposed as to 

 serve for the image of a butterfly. The uppermost constitutes what 

 is called the vexillura or banner, those on each side are the wings, 

 and the lowermost pair the keel. The petals must be stripped off 

 for the full display of the stamens and pistil, which will be 1'uund as 

 represented in the figure, the filaments of the stamens being all 

 united at the base. Fertilization is effected by insect agency, and 

 probably in this way — a bee enters the flower in search of honey, 

 and comes out well dusted with pollen. The stigma of the flower 

 entered is perhaps not so ripe as the stamens in the same flower, 

 and if the bee leaves a dust of pollen on it, no effect is produced ; 

 bat the next flower the bee enters may be ready to receive the 

 pollen, and whatever the bee leaves upon it in bustling in after 

 honey takes effect, and immediately afterwards the pod begins to 

 grow. In due time the bush is, by the aid of such agencies, covered 

 with legumes of pods, bearing seeds upon the upper seam of the 



July. 13 



