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 
rachilla, 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 
structure of 
Wheat flowers 
and their arrange- 
ment in the spike- 
let. 
Flowers of the 
Legumes or Bean Fic. 21.—Flower 
Family. —The of Red Clover. ca, 
calyx; co, corolla; 
Howers Of the » standards w, 
Bean Family of wings; k, keel. 
which Beans, Many times en- 
Fic. 22. — End view of an un- 
tripped and tripped flower of Red 
Clover. 
b, flower untripped. a, stand- Peas, Clover, Al- larged. After C. 
ard; w, wings; k, keel. d, flower falfa, and Vetch M. King. 
tripped, in which case the keel and gre familiar representatives have a 
wings are bent down, exposing the aie wt Bar deat Th 
pistil (p) and stamens (s). Much "Umber of peculiar features. e 
enlarged. After C. M. King. 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 
