The stamens and pistils are produced in separate flowers, but upon the same plant. The flowers have no perianth other than a few slender hairs. The staminate flowers occupy the upper portion of the well-known spike or "mace," and consist simply of several stamens joined together, the anthers opening along their sides. The pistillate flowers consist of a stalked ovary with a slender style and a one-sided narrow stigma. The specific differences are as follows:—
I. Great Reed Mace (T. latifolia). Leaves as much as an inch and a half broad, in two rows, bluish-green. Flowering stem naked, 6 or 7 feet high. Staminate and pistillate spikes continuous, or but slightly interrupted. Growing in lakes and on the banks of rivers. Flowering in July and August.
II. Lesser Reed Mace (T. angusti folia). Whole plant smaller. Leaves half the width, dark green, grooved at lower end. Staminate and pistillate spikes separated by an interval. Stigmas broader. Ditches and pools. Less common than latifolia. Flowering July.
Name from Greek, Tiphos, a fen or marsh, from the habitat.
Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria).
The Kidney-vetch or Lady's fingers was elebrated from early times as a plant that was efficacious in the cure of wounds, and hence its specific name vulneraria. There is no doubt that this reputation was well-founded, for its bluish leaves are covered with silky hairs and its calyces downy. It is a perennial herb that affects dry pastures and rocky banks. From a woody rootstock arise several stems and a large number of radical leaves; these consist of a long terminal leaflet and two disproportionately small lateral leaflets. The leaves from the stems (caudal leaves) have a larger number of leaflets in pairs, as well as a terminal one. The flowers are borne in heads, with an involucre of leaflets, and the heads are chiefly in pairs. The calyx is membranous, and therefore permanent, the mouth oblique, with fine teeth. The petals are nearly equal in length, and typically yellow, but subject to considerable variation. After flowering the straw-coloured calyx becomes inflated, and the
