86 WILD FLOWEES. 



aceons, or butterfly-shaped ; and as it is always 

 found that plants whose flowers are of this form, 

 bear their seeds in a legume, or pod, they are 

 also termed leguminous. The structure is re- 

 marked by Dr. Paley, as a beautifid instance o/ 

 contrivance on the part of the ^ reat Creator of 

 the universe. After having adverted to the 

 importance of preserving from injury the parts 

 of fructification in a plant, which are usually 

 lodged in the centre of a blossom, he says, 

 " The pea, or papilionaceous tribe, inclose these 

 parts within a beautiful folding of the internal 

 blossom, sometimes called, from its shape, the 

 boat, or keel, itself also protected under a pent- 

 house formed of the external petal. This 

 structure is very artificial, and what adds to the 

 value of it, though it may diminish the curio- 

 sity, very general. It has also this farther 

 advantage, and it is an advantage strictly me- 

 chanical, that all the blossoms turn their backs 

 to the wind whenever the gale blows strongly 

 enough to endanger the delicate parts on which 

 the seed depends. I have observed this a hun- 

 Ired times, in a field of peas in blossom. It is 

 an aptitude which results from the figure of the 

 flower, and as we have said, is strictly mecha- 

 nical, as much so as tlie turning of a weather- 

 board, or tin cap, upon the top of a chinmey." 

 The flowers of the rest-harrow are usually 

 pink, but sometimes white, and the plant is 

 usually very spiny, but the number of spines 

 seems afi"ected by the nature of the soil on 

 which it grows. On calcareous soils these 



