FLOWERS OF THE LEGUMES OR BEAN FAMILY 



23 



as in Oats, but are directly attached to the rachis. This feature 

 distinguishes the spike from the branching head, called panicle, 

 of the Oats. In the varieties of common Wheat, each spikelet 

 contains three or more flowers arranged one above another on the 

 racliilla, and one or more of the upper flowers are rudimentary. 

 Each fully developed flower, just as in Oats, consists of three 

 stamens and a pistil enclosed by the lemma 

 and palea. The lodicules, like those of the 

 Oat flower, are small inconspicuous scales at 

 the base of pistil and stamens. In Wheat, 

 where the spikelets are broad, the spikelet is 

 only partly enclosed by the glumes. In thresh- 

 ing Wheat the kernel is separated from the 

 bracts — the latter being blown away as chaff. 

 A study of the 

 spikelet shown in 

 Figure 20 will aid 

 the student in un- 

 ^"^ '"'' "'" '' derstanding the 

 tructure of 

 Wheat flowers 

 and their arrange- 

 ment in the spike- 

 let. ^r y' ^' 

 Flov^fers of the 

 Legumes or Bean 

 Family.— The 

 flowers of the 

 Bean Family of 

 which Beans, 

 Peas, Clover, Al- 

 falfa, and Vetch 



are familiar representatives have a 

 number of peculiar features. The 

 one most prominent among the 

 cultivated ones of the family is the 

 irregularity in the shape of the parts of the perianth, as the 

 flowers of Peas or Red Clover illustrate. The calyx is a shallow 

 five-toothed cup. The corolla is composed of four pieces; the 

 large expanded portion at the back, known as the standard or 



Fig. 22. — End view of an iiij- 

 tripped and tripped flower of Red 

 Clover. 



h, flower untripped. a, stand- 

 ard; w, wings; h, keel, d, flower 

 tripped, in which case the keel and 

 wings are bent down, exposing the 

 pistil (p) and stamens («). Much 

 enlarged. After C. M. King. 



Fig. 2L— Flower 

 of Red Clover, ca, 

 calyx; co, corolla; 

 a, standard; w, 

 wings; k, keel. 

 Many times en- 

 larged. After C. 

 M. King. 



