CALIFORNIA PLANTS IN THEIR HOMES 



it has really not so good a method as the lupine, for only 

 the first guest strikes the alfalfa stigmas and pollen, while 

 the lupine furnishes pollen and has stigmas struck over and 

 over again ; the pollen of the lupines is always protected, 

 while the alfalfa anthers are quite exposed after the 

 explosion of the flowers. The only advantage of the 

 alfalfa is that butterflies, as well as bees, can pollinate the 

 flowers. 



Now the most wonderful part of the story is, that the 

 wee flowers of the bur-clover have exactly the same ma- 

 chinery as the alfalfa. Their pistil and stamens, too, jump 

 up like a "jack-in-the-box" and strike the guest's tongue; 

 but the column of stamens and pistil in the bur-clover is so 

 short that it cannot trouble the insect much, and after it 

 has sprung up against the banner, it is still protected by 

 the wings. This makes it difficult for you to see the 

 flower explode, but if you have patience and good eyes, 

 you can 'find the projections on the tiny wings, and the 

 pockets in the keel. The bur-clover flowers, in spite of 

 being so tiny, furnish a good amount of honey, and the 

 bees seem to find it more readily than we can. 



Now take a stem of bur-clover, and note the changes 

 from the flower to the bur. Would you have thought 

 that the bur is really the same sort of fruit as the lupine 

 pod ? By looking closely you will see that the bur is at 

 first a tiny pod, and that it grows two rows of teeth on 

 one edge, takes a little turn, then twists again and again, 

 until it is the hooked coil, or bur, that fastens itself so 

 readily to our clothes. The alfalfa, too, has a coiled pod, 

 but it is not provided with teeth. 



The true clovers are another branch of this ingenious 

 family, 'Leguminosse. We have some very pretty clovers 

 in California, but they are not such an important part of 

 the vegetation as they are in countries with more moisture, 

 in our Eastern States or England, for instance. A head of 



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