44,0 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
with, on each of its sides, several wavy, some- 
what irregular and forked veins extending towards 
the leaf margin. The twigs of this Tree are fur- 
nished near their apices with trios of thorns, 
which give it a spiny and characteristic appear- 
ance, and enable it to be distinguished when it 
has lost its foliage. Its flowers are yellow, and 
are borne in racemes, with numerous individual 
flowers, each flower having six petals and six 
stamens. An interesting peculiarity of these 
stamens is their singular sensitiveness to touch. 
Ordinarily, when the flower is expanded, they are 
spread outwards towards the outermost points of 
the petals, and away from the pistils; and this 
position, it is obvious, is not conducive to fertiliza- 
tion. Provision, however, for fertilization is made 
by the very sensitiveness of the stamens ; for when 
the bases of the latter are touched by insects or 
otherwise, they spring forward as if endowed with 
life, and, in the act, the pollen of the anthers on 
their apices is shed upon the pistils, and thus 
fertilization is accomplished. The resulting fruit 
is in the form of an oblong berry, larger at the 
base than at its other end, and when ripe of a 
