LUPINE, ALFALFA AND BUR-CLOVER 



clover is, of course, a flower cluster, and you can easily 

 see that, like the lupine and alfalfa, each little flower has 

 banner, wings and keel; that is, they are what are called 

 "butterfly" flowers. If you have patience, you can find 

 that the clovers, too, have mechanical contrivances for 

 keeping wings and keel united, and that they serve honey. 

 Some clovers trust absolutely to their insect guests, and 

 cannot pollinate themselves at all. This is true of a beau- 

 tiful, large-flowered clover that is much used as a pasture 

 plant in many countries; its flowers are so long that they 

 must have bumble-bees to carry pollen for them, and if we 

 try to grow the clover where there are not enough big 

 bumble-bees, it will not produce good seed. So they 

 jokingly say that England owes her beautiful clover fields 

 to* the old maids that keep the cats that kill the mice that 

 eat the bumble-bees that pollinate the clover. 



Our wild peas have such large flowers that you can 

 very easily find their honey and the beautiful devices by 

 which the wings and keel are held together. They have, 

 also, little brushes on their styles for sweeping out pollen, 

 a little for each guest to carry away. Be sure to watch how 

 the wild peas climb. There are several kinds of wild peas 

 that you are likely to find, and also many other common 

 kinds of L,eguminos3e. There are the "rattle-pods," so 

 common in sandy soil; this plant is called loco weed by the 

 stockmen, and is believed to loco horses, that is, to make 

 them crazy. Then there is the Hosackia, or L,otus, group 

 of small lyeguminous plants. One kind is pictured in Fig. 

 n, Chapter III, and you are Hkely to find others. In your 

 fields and gardens, too, you will find many members of this 

 family, some useful like the peas, beans and peanuts, and 

 some with very showy flowers; see how many you can rec- 

 ognize, and try to discover the devices of their flowers and 

 fruit. 



There are other families with mechanical devices, 



133 



