SWEET-PEA TYPE. 4] 
It will be advisable at this point to examine, if possible, one or two 
kinds of Wattles (Acacia sp.); but it is difficult to fix upon any one 
asa type, as so many kinds are to be found in cultivation. Most of 
them have compound leaves, either pinnate or bipinnate, with numerous 
small leaflets; but in very many species the petioles become broad and 
leaf-like, and take the place of the leaves, and are then termed phyl- 
lodes.* They can generally be distinguished by haying no distinct upper 
and under surface, and by hanging with their 
edges vertical. Sometimes they are reduced to 
spines. The flowers are very small, and are 
usually crowded into small heads, which again 
are arranged in more complex inflorescences. 
They are best examined before they are fully 
open, The 4-5-lobed calyx is valvate in bud ; 
the petals (which are similar in number) are 
more or less united together (= gamopetalous), 
and are also valvate in bud. The stamens 
are yery numerous, and have their filaments TWFig.52. Phyllodia and 
often united at the base.’ Lastly, the ovary is stipular spines of 
1-celled, and ripens into a legume. Acacia armata. 
9. Busn Lawyer, on Native Brampny (Rubus australis). 
In this rampant straggling shrub we see another develop- 
ment of that climbing habit which has been so commonly 
assumed by many plants, and of which we have considered 
examples in the Clematis, Indian Cress, Pea, and French 
Bean. But in this species, while the young shoots have pro- 
bably a slight twining habit, the climbing is chiefly accom- 
plished by the recurved hooks on the back of the petioles and 
midribs. ‘These hooks are only developments of the skin, or 
epidermis, just as we see in the Rose; but their function is 
more evidently specialised. Note how the main petiole, as 
well as the secondary petioles, are sharply bent near their — 
extremity, to enable the hooks to take a better hold. The 
downward curvature of the spines enables the stems and 
leaves to slip readily wp a support, but they are not easily 
pulled down. Try the experiment on the sleeve of your coat. 
The leaves are digitate, and either 3- or 5-foliolate, and the 
shape of the leaflets is extremely variable (in one variety they 
are reduced to midribs only). Note how the stipules are com- 
pletely adnate to the petiole (i.e., are joined by their whole 
length), their tips only being free. 
The flowers are dicecious (very rarely 3), and are arranged 
in large panicles. 
S flowers.—The panicles are very large, and the flowers are 
powerfully fragrant. Note the 5 sepals united below to form 
with the receptacle a flat disc, which is frequently thickly 
covered with nectar; the 5 rounded concave petals placed on 
the edge of the disc, imbricate in bud and very deciduous; and 
the oo stamens, attached in two or three whorls just inside the 
* Gr. phyllon, a leaf. 
