174 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



and I remember sweet-peas, and field-peas, and 

 beans, and vetches, and clover, and laburnum, and 

 a great many more, had all the same kind of 

 blossom. 



"True," said her father; "and this with the 

 pod will be sufficient to mark most of the legu- 

 minous plants you are likely to meet with. But 

 there are others of this vast tribe that have indeed 

 the same pod, but a very differently shaped flower. 

 Thus, the mimosas in the conservatory, whose 

 blossoms seem little more than a bundle of delicate 

 yellow stamens, are members of this tribe, as are 

 all the beautiful acacias, their relatives, which 

 yield various gums, tanners' bark, and dark-coloured 

 wood for furniture. The rosewood of commerce 

 is .the timber of a mimosa of the forests of Brazil, 

 which when fresh has a faint smell of roses. 



" I have thought of two more plants that have 

 blossoms and pods like the pea," said Eobert ; 

 " and they both grow on our down, and they are 

 both yellow." 



Henry guessed immediately what they were ; 

 namely, the furze and the broom;* and Mary 

 thought of many of her favourite wild flowers with 



* Cytisus scoparius. 



