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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
203
The
Bird's-foot
trefoil,
Fig.
62,
you
will
find
almost
anywhere
all
through
the
summer,
and
you
will
know
it
from
other
flowers
very
like
it
by
its
leaf,
which
is
not
a
true
trefoil,
for
behind
the
three
usual
leaflets
of
the
clover
and
the
shamrock
leaf,
it
has
two
small
leaflets
near
the
stalk.
The
flower,
you
will
notice,
is
shaped
very
like
the
flower
of
a
pea,
and
indeed
it
belongs
to
the
same
family,
called
the
Papilionaceae
or
butterfly
family,
because
the
flowers
look
something
like
an
insect
flying.
In
all
these
flowers
the
top
petal
stands
up
like
a
flag
to
catch
the
eye
of
the
insect,
and
for
this
reason
botanists
call
it
the
"standard".
Below
it
are
two
side-petals
called
the
"wings,"
and
if
you
pick
these
off
you
will
find
that
the
remaining
two
petals
are
joined
together
at
the
tip
in
a
shape
like
the
keel
of
a
boat.
For
this
reason
they
are
called
the
"keel".
Notice
as
we
pass
that
these
two
last
petals
have
in
them
a
curious
little
hollow
or
depression,
and
if
you
look
inside
the
"wings"
you
will
notice
a
little
knob
that
fits
into
this
hollow,
and
so
locks
the
two
together.
We
shall
see
by-and-by
that
this
is
important.
Week
30
Next
let
us
look
at
the
half-flower
when
it
is
cut
open,
and
see
what
there
is
inside.
There
are
ten
stamens
in
all,
enclosed
with
the
stigma
in
the
keel;
nine
are
joined
together
and
one
is
by
itself.
The
anthers
of
five
of
these
stamens
burst
open
while
the
flower
is
still
a
bud,
but
the
other
stamens
go
on
growing,
and
push
the
pollen-dust,
which
is
very
moist
and
sticky,
right
up
into
the
tip
of
the
keel.
Here
you
see
it
lies
right
round
the
stigma,
but
as
we
saw
before
in
the
geranium,
the
stigma
is
not
ripe
and
sticky
yet,
and
so
it
does
not
use
the
pollen
grains.
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