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As the claw of the standard
petal and the calyx are short, he need not have a long tongue to
drain the nectary pointed out to him by a triangular white mark
at the base of the banner. Now, as his weight depresses the
incurved keel, wherein the vital organs are protected, the stigma
strikes the visitor in advance of the anthers, so that pollen
brought on his underside from another flower must come off on
this one before he receives fresh pollen to transfer to a third
blossom. At first the keel returns to its original position when
depressed; later it loses its elasticity. But besides these showy
flowers intended to be cross-fertilized by insects, the bush
clovers bear, among the others, insignificant-looking, tightly
closed, bud-like ones that produce abundant self-fertilized seed.
The petaliferous flowers are simply to counteract the inevitable
evils resulting from close inbreeding. One usually finds
caterpillars of the "dusky wings" butterfly feeding on the
foliage and the similar tick trefoils which are its staple.


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