YELLOW FLOWERS 



41 



72. Meiilot. 



are toothed : stipules small, toothed : the fruit is a little, curved 

 pod, green at first, then black : the teeth of the calyx are equal 

 in length : the plrnt is quite small, and trails along the ground : 

 common on waste ground, flowering 

 throughout the summer. 



72. Meiilot, Melilotus officinalis, Pea 

 family. The stems are erect 2 to 3 

 ft. high : the leaves have 3 elliptical, 

 serrate leaflets, and small, sharply- 

 pointed stipules : the flowers are small, 

 and borne in long slender spikes, in the 

 leaf axils, on the upper part of the 

 stems : the plant is common in dry 

 pastures, flowering in summer : it has a 

 delightful, sweet, aromatic odour, espe- 

 cially when dry, and is used in flavouring 

 gruyere cheese. 



73. Hop Trefoil, Trifolium procum- 

 "bens, Pea family. The flowers are crowded 

 into little stalked heads of about 40 : 

 the leaves have 3 leaflets : the stem 

 is trailing : 2 of the calyx teeth are 



much shorter than the other 3 : the stipules are entire : 

 common about roadsides and other dry places, flowering in 

 summer : the Lesser Trefoil is a smaller species with only 

 about a dozen flowers in the heads, and 

 resembles the Medick, from which it may 

 be distinguished by the character of the 

 pod, which remains hidden within the 

 withered corolla. 



74. Lady's Finger, Kidney Vetch, 

 Anthyllis Vulneraria, Pea family. Several 

 short (6 to 12 ins.) stems rise close together 

 from the root : the feather-compound 

 leaves have 7 to 11 leaflets, and are soft 

 with hairs : the pale-yellow flowers are 

 gathered in heads, 2 heads always stand- 

 ing together at the tip of a branch : 

 common on dry banks, flowering in sum- 

 mer : the leaves were formerly used for dressing wounds. 



75. Bird's-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, Pea family. 

 Another creeping plant, with orange-yellow flowers gathered in 

 heads : the flowers are, however, large, and only 5 to 10 occur in 

 a head : the stalk which bears the head is long and slender : 

 the pod is long and narrow : the leaves have 3 leaflets, but 

 appear to have 5, because the stipulei are large and resemble 



73. Hop Trefoil. 



