146 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



organs ; the stamens, ten in number 

 have their filaments united into a 

 sheath-like tube, enveloping the ovary 

 or incipent pod, which is terminated 

 by the long curved style, which at first 

 is coiled up like a spring. With 

 certain slight modifications this arrange- 

 ment prevails throughout the order, 

 which includes the peas, vetches, tares, 

 clovers, &c. It is a general law that 

 all plants with irregular flowers are 

 dependent upon the visits of insects 

 for fertilisation, and nowhere is mutual 

 adaptation more evident than in the 

 broom. A bee visiting a half-opened 

 flower, of necessity alights upon the 

 alae or wings of the corolla, which are 

 so interlocked with the keel, that the 

 weight and pressure of the insect 

 bends down the petals, so that the 

 flower explodes or bursts open, the 

 the coiled up styles and stamens are 

 liberated, and spring out like an im- 

 prisoned ''Jack in the box," thus 

 scattering the pollen upon the bee's 

 body. Anyone can verify this descrip- 

 tion and forestall the bee, by gently 

 pressing the unexpanded blossoms of 

 the broom, when the stamens and style 

 will suddenly start out ; and once free 

 they never return to their prison house 

 again, as they do in some allied plants, 

 notably the bird's foot trefoil {Lotus 

 corniculatm). But they remain con- 

 spicuously exposed and in the way, 

 ready and liable to be fertilized by the 

 pollen-laden body of the bee as it flies 



sucking the sweets literally "from 

 every opening flower." 



When ripe the pod of the broom is 

 highly hygrometric, and in dry sunny 

 weather it bursts with considerable 

 explosive force, scattering the seeds in 

 all directions. This property is still 

 more highly developed in an allied 

 African tree, in which the pods grow 

 to the enormous length of twenty to 

 twenty-five inches, and which if wound 

 round with strong wire will break 

 themselves in pieces in their endeavour 

 to be free. The leaves of the tree are 

 trifoKate, but they are small and decidu- 

 ous and not very noticeable on the 

 long, slender, furrowed evergreen 

 branches. 



The gorse .furnishes a beautiful 

 illustration of the gradual transforma- 

 tion of leaves in the process of growth. 

 In young seedling plants the leaves 

 are trifoliate, like clover, with the 

 branches soft and flexible, but as they 

 get older the branches become rigid 

 spires, and the leaves needle-like 

 prickles. These are admirable defensive 

 organs, and well the furze requires 

 them, for its juices are sweet and 

 luscious, and highly relished by various! 

 animals, sheep especially. Horses and 

 cattle eat the young shoots readily, 

 when the spines are bruised so as not 

 to injure their mouths, mills foi 

 mashing them are still extant in rural 

 districts. It has even been cultivated 

 as a forage crop, and in seasons o; 



