THE WOOD-VETCH. 91 



commonly distributed species of the genus, but it is larger 

 in size. It is composed of a great number of leaflets, 

 ranged in two rows up the stem ; eight or ten pairs of these 

 leaflets would be about the average number in each leaf. 

 The leaf does not terminate in a leaflet, as in the ash, the 

 elder, and many other leaves of this type, but the central 

 stem is elongated to some distance beyond the last pair of 

 leaflets into a thin tendril that often has lateral tendril- 

 forms given off from it. These tendrils are very strong, 

 and give the plant a great power of grasping and holding 

 on to any convenient point of support, a very needful 

 feature in the economy of the plant, as it is itself quite 

 destitute of the strength that would enable it to stand 

 alone, and make its own way in the world. The leaves 

 have at their bases broad stipules deeply toothed, and alto- 

 gether very different in form from the members composing 

 the true leaf. The flowers are large and very numerous, 

 pure white, and freely streaked with purplish-blue veins. 

 The stems or peduncles that bear these are of considerable 

 size, ordinarily longer than the leaves ; the flowers spring 

 from these in a long line of beautiful forms, and as they are 

 not so densely crowded on the flower-stem as in some of the 

 other species, the grace of the form and the delicacy of the 

 colouring are easily perceived and duly appreciated. The 

 inflorescence is racemose that is to say, each flower is borne 

 on a small stem of its own that springs from the common 

 flowering stem. It is a very common form of inflorescence, 

 and may be readily seen in the hyacinth, the mignonette, 

 and many other well-known flowers. The pods succeeding 

 the blossoms are about an inch long, and rather broad in 

 proportion to their length, as compared with those of many 

 other species of the great pea-flower family. 



