Botanical 
description. 
160 
The same, with calyx and standard removed. 
5, The keel and reproductive organs, side-view. 
, 6. The same, viewed from above. 
, 7» The same as figure 5 with one side of the keel removed. 
., 8 The reproductive organs of a flower bud (after Miiller), 
. 9. The reproductive organs and apex of keel in a mature flower (after Miiller). 
, 9a. The pistil. 
,, 10. The nine coherent stamens, spread out. 
,, 14. The legume, before opening, natural size. 
,, 14a. The same, magnified. 
, 12. The same, after dehiscence. 
,, 13. The seed, from the broad surface. 
, 14. The seed, shewing the hilum. 
Botanical description. The twp root descends vertically into the ground and is spindle-shaped 
(fusiform), It is crowned by a simple, short and thick stock from which all the branches are produced, 
At their origin, they are quite close to one another, and either ascend directly into the air, or spread 
somewhat along the ground but never strike root nor form stolons. The short stock which crowns 
the root always remains simple, and from it, alone, branches are produced. 
The stems, thus produced, vary in length from 6 to 48 inches, are angular, spreading, or ascen- 
ding, and hairy or glabrous according to the variety. 
The leaves are alternate, compound, composed of five leaflets, and the petiole is very short. The 
leaflets themselves are obovate and wedge-shaped at the base or lanceolate and acute, and either glabrous 
or hairy; the upper surface is dark green and the under glaucous. A long stretch of midrib separates 
the three terminal leaflets from the basal pair (fig. A). The stipules are quite rudimentary and reduced 
lo bristles or glands (fig, B); the lowest pair of leaflets is often regarded as stipules, because of their 
position, which is almost basal, but we, with Acherson. prefer to regard them as leaflets. 
The flowers have short pedicels and occur in groups forming small umbels composed of from 
two to six flowers. The peduncle is axillary and longer than the leaf. A trifoliate bract is situated at 
the base of the umbel, and forms a kind of involucre, 
The calyx (fig, 2) is gamosepalous, and either glabrous or short haired, according to the variety; 
the tube has five well marked veins which run out into the teeth, and numerous others, less strongly 
marked, between; the teeth are five in number, acute, and connivent before flowering. 
The corolla is golden yellow, except the standard, which has a tinge of red before and often 
even after flowering, and when withering, gradually becomes bluish green, 
The standard (fig. 3) has a narrow claw and a vertical limb convex in front. The wings (fig, 41) 
have also a narrow claw, and the limb is very convex and swollen; when the flower is viewed from 
the front, so that both limbs are seen together, they form a hemisphere, so great is the convexity. 
The ‘eel (fig. 5) is prolonged anteriorly into a conical beak, which contains the sexual organs (figs. 5, 
7 and 9). Nine of the ten stamens cohere by their filaments so as to form a tube split superiorly and 
surrounding the pistil; the free stamen fills up the slit in the tube, and right and left at its base is 
a small aperture leading to the honey within the tube (fig. 6). 
Hermann Miller has shown that, in the flower bud (fig. 8), the free parts of the stamens are 
equal in length, and also that, at an early period, the anthers shed their pollen in the beak of the 
keel and then wither; while the flower is opening, the filaments of the five exterior stamens lengthen, 
and become club-shaped, so as to form a plug beneath the pollen contained in the beak (fig, 9). 
