THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
193 
SUMMER WILD FLOWERS. 
(Continued from page 168.) 
BY this time the furze and broom have had their share of 
our admiration, if they have had hut littleof our attention. 
They represent the great natural order of Papilion- 
aceous plants, so named because of the resemblance of 
their flowers to butterflies. They are also called Fa- 
baceous, because of the peculiar bean-like pod in which their seeds 
are produced, “ f tibia ” being the Latin for a bean. The fabaceous 
plants rank second only to the grasses in value as ministrants to the 
economy of animal life, for they produce food for man and beast in 
vast abundance, and, generally speaking, the aliments derived from 
this family are of the highest character in point of nourishing power, 
all of them contributing largely to the nourishment, not only of the 
muscular and bony frame-work, but in a peculiar degree also to the 
nervous system, owing to their richness in nitrogen and salts of 
phosphorus. In a majority of cases the fabaceous or leguminous 
plants have pinnated leaves ; that is to say, each separate leaf con- 
sists of a series of symmetrical divisions united by a common stem. 
In the laburnum, locust, and acacia trees, we find the leaves to be 
formed on the same plan as in the commonest vetch, for these are 
all members of the Leguminosae ; but in the vetch the pinnated 
leaf terminates in a tendril, whereas in all the trees of the family 
the leaves are destitute of tendrils. An interesting exception occurs 
in the case of the Judas tree, Cere is siliquastnim, which you may 
find in many a good garden ; in this case the leaves are entire and 
orbicular ; but the pretty pink flowers are as like those of a pea as 
are those of the Common Rest Harrow, Ononis arvensis, a pretty, 
low-growing, thorny shrub, with rosy-pink flowers, which you may- 
now find on many heath lauds and sandy waysides. The Common 
Broom, Cytisus scoparius , may be studied with advantage as a 
representative plant. The leaves are in threes, and remotely resemble 
those of the clover, which also belongs to this family. The flowers 
are formed, like these of the pea, with five petals, so disposed as to 
serve for the image of a butterfly. The uppermost constitutes what 
is called the vexillum or banner, those on each side are the wings, 
and the lowermost pair the keel. The petals must be stripped off 
for the full display of the stamens and pistil, which will be found as 
represented iu the figure, the filaments of the stamens being all 
united at the base. Fertilization is effected by insect agency, and 
probably in this way — a bee enters the flower in search of honey, 
and comes out well dusted with pollen. The stigma of the flower 
entered is perhaps not so ripe as the stamens in the same flower, 
and if the bee leaves a dust of pollen on it, no effect is produced ; 
but the next flower the bee enters may be ready to receive the 
pollen, and whatever the bee leaves upon it in bustling in after 
honey takes effect, and immediately afterwards the pod begins to 
grow. In due time the bush is, by the aid of such agencies, covered 
with legumes of pods, bearing seeds upon the upper seam of the 
July. 13 
