HOW TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS 



descriptions which give their general appearance, season of 

 blooming, and favorite haunts. 



Pulse Family. The Pulse family includes many of our com- 

 mon wood- and field-flowers. The majority of its members are 

 easily distinguished by those irregular, butter fly -shaped blos- 

 soms which are described as papilionaceous. The sweet pea is a 

 familiar example of such a flower, and a study of its curious 

 structure renders easy the after identification of a papilionaceous 

 blossom, even if it be as small as one of the many which make 

 up the head of the common pink clover. 



The calyx of such a flower is of five more or less and some- 

 times unequally united sepals. The corolla consists of five 

 irregular petals, the upper one of which is generally wrapped 

 about the others in bud, while it spreads or turns backward in 

 flower. This petal is called the standard. The two side petals 

 are called wings. The two lower ones are usually somewhat 

 united and form a sort of pouch which encloses the stamens and 

 style ; this is called the keel, from a fancied likeness to the 

 prow of an ancient vessel. There are usually ten stamens and 

 one pistil. 



These flowers are peculiarly adapted to cross-fertilization 

 through insect agency, although one might imagine the con- 

 trary to be the case from the relative positions of stamens 

 and pistil. In the pea-blossom, for example, the hairy portion 

 of the style receives the pollen from the early maturing stamens. 

 The weight of a visiting bee projects the stigma and the pollen- 

 laden style against the insect's body. But it must be observed 

 that in this action the stigma first brushes against the bee, while 

 the pollen-laden style touches him later, with the result that the 

 bee soon flies to another flower on whose fresh stigma the de- 

 tached pollen is left, while a new cargo of this valuable material 

 is unconsciously secured, and the same process is indefinitely re- 

 peated. 



Mint Family. A member of the Mint family usually exhales 

 an aromatic fragrance which aids us to place it correctly. If to 

 this characteristic is added a square stem, opposite leaves, a two- 

 lipped corolla, four stamens in pairs two being longer than the 



16 



