10 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



and that which in the bud covers all the others, is named 

 the standard; it is generally by far the largest of the 

 five. Beneath this spring two lateral forms, ordinarily 

 called wings. Within these, again, are two smaller members, 

 which often unite in a portion of their length and form 

 a V-shaped base to the flower, and are therefore called the 

 keel of the blossom, from the boat-like form they assume. 

 The stamens are always ten in number, and will be found 

 on dissecting the flower to be either monadelphous (one 

 brotherhood) all united into one mass, or diadelphous (two 

 brotherhoods), in which case nine of them are united 

 together while the tenth is above these and free. The 

 fruit is a pod ; the peas and beans of our vegetable gardens 

 are a ready illustration of the form. There are nineteen 

 English genera, many of them containing a great many 

 distinct species. The furze, broom, sainfoin, and the 

 different kinds of vetches and clover are good and familial- 

 examples amongst our wild plants, while the lupins of our 

 flower gardens, and the trees often called Acacia, but 

 which are more properly Robinia, are other equally well- 

 known and easily accessible examples. 



The rest-harrow, the subject of our present plate, is not 

 uncommonly met with on poor land, by roadsides, and the 

 borders of fields. It is the Ononis arvensis of the botanist. 

 It is a plant that is subject to a considerable variation of 

 form ; in growth sometimes erect, sometimes weak and 

 trailing; very variable, too, in the spinous character of 

 the stem, as in some plants this is a marked feature, while 

 others are almost unarmed. 



The blossoms are generally a delicate rose colour, but 

 may at times be found pure white. On the strength of 

 some of the more marked of these differences, some 



