172 BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS chap. 



the left has a deep depression in which the point of the 

 pistil lies. The wings are closely connected with the 

 keel, the right wing, however, when it overlies the point 

 of the keel, has a fold, through which, when the flower is 

 pressed down by an insect, the stigma protrudes. The 

 stigma is widened above, and twisted to an angle of 90°, 

 so that its originally inner side, which bears the brush of 

 hairs, conies to the left side ; the smooth, originally outer 

 side, to the right. The anthers open in the bud, and the 

 pollen is swept out by the brush of hairs. It is not easy 

 to make this complicated and unsymmetrical arrange- 

 ment very clear without an actual specimen. The 

 flower is principally fertilised by the hive bee. The 

 stipules are very large, and partly fulfil the functions 

 of leaves, besides serving to protect their own leaf 

 (Fig. 120) in the young stage and all the rest of the 

 shoot. 



L. pratensis. — The arrangement of the flower in this 

 species resembles that of the preceding. The stipules 

 are broadly lanceolate and sagittate. 



L. Aphaca. — In this curious species the leaves are 

 reduced to tendrils, and the ordinary functions of the 

 leaf are performed by large, broadly heart-shaped stipules. 

 In the seedling the first and second leaves are scale-like 

 and trifid, with three subulate points corresponding to leaf 

 and stipules. The third and fourth leaves are compound, 

 with one pair of leaflets and obliquely ovate stipules 

 of considerable size, and a tendril represented by a 

 small subulate point. The fifth and succeeding leaves 

 are reduced to a subulate point and a pair of triangular 

 foliaceous stipules. The subulate point develops into a 

 simple tendril on the middle and upper portions of the 

 stem.^ 



L. maritimus. — As regards the flower this species 

 also resembles L. pratensis, and the stipules are 

 sagittate. 



On the other hand, in L. palustris the stipules are 

 semi-sagittate. I have suggested that this may be 



' Avebury (Lubbock), Buds and Stipules. 



