470 DICOTYLEDONES. 



type, as they have 10 free stamens and so form the transition to the Caesal- 

 piuiaceje. Nearly all are trees and shrubs. 



3. ASTRAGALE^;. Herbs or shrubs, less frequently trees, with 

 imparipinnate leaves (without tendrils). The flowers are gener- 

 ally borne in racemes or spikes. Stamens monadelphons or 

 diadelphous. -Astragalus (Milk-Vetch) has the legume incom- 

 pletely divided longitudinally into 2 loculi by a septum formed by 

 the incurved dorsal suture. Diadelphous. Gli/cyrrhiza (Liquo- 

 rice) ; Colutea (Bladder-Senna) from S. Europe ; Robinia (the false 

 Acacia) with thorny stipules; Indigofera (the Indigo plant); 

 Amorpha (which has only one petal, namely the standard, and the 

 fruit a nut), Caragana, Wistaria (a climbing shrub), Galega. Car- 

 michfelia australis, when old, produces flat branches with scale- 

 like leaves. 



4. VICIE.S;. Climbing herbs -with paripinnate leaves, the midrib 

 ending in a point or frequently in a tendril, which generally is 

 branched, representing lateral veins without mesophyll ; stamens 

 diadelphous; the cotyledons remain underground on germination. 



-Vicia (Vetch) has a filamentous style, hairy towards the tip, and 

 a pod with many seeds ; climbing by means of tendrils ; the leaves 

 have many leaflets. Faba (B\ vulgaris, Horse-bean) is erect, with- 

 out tendrils ; its pod is thick with spongy septa between the seeds. 

 Ervum (Lentil) has a pod with only 1-2 seeds, and sweeping hairs 

 (stylar-brush) on the inner side of the style. Pisum (Pea; Fig. 

 512) has very large stipules, the bent style has a hollow groove on 

 the anterior side. P. sativum (Common Pea), P. arvense (Grey Pea). 



-Latliyrus (Sweet Pea) generally has an angular, winged stem and 

 most frequently only a few pairs of leaflets. The style is flat- 

 tened, with sweeping hairs on the back. In L. apliaca the stipules 

 alone are developed into foliage-leaves, while the remainder of the leaf is 

 modified into a tendril. Cicer has a nearly straight embryo and 

 imparipinnate leaves with dentate or incised leaflets. C. arietinus 

 (Chick-pea). Abnts (precatorius, etc.); the seeds ("Crab's eyes," " Pater- 

 noster peas," " Jequirity ") are scarlet \vith a black spot round the hilum. 



5. PHASEOLE.E. Herbs, twining or erect, but not climbing by 

 tendrils ; the leaves are imparipinnate, generally ternate, and bear 

 small, linear bodies resembling stipules at the base of the stalks 

 of the leaflets. The inflorescences are most frequently compound, 

 groups of few flowers being situated on short, nodose, lateral axes 

 borne on a longer stem. On germination the cotyledons are 

 raised a considerable distance above the ground, and become 



