THE DICOTYLEDONES 1659 



the fruit of which resembles an Apple. It is a small tree about 20 ft. in 

 height with lanceolate leaves. The flowers are white and fragrant. The 

 fruits are borne in clusters, each being rather pear-shaped, from i to 3 in. in 

 length, pale yellow or orange in colour. The skin resembles that of a 

 Peach but the flesh is firm, juicy and rather acid in taste. The fruit is a 

 berry and contains some four or five seeds. It is grown commercially in 

 the warmer parts of the United States and China. 



Chrysobalanus icaco, sometimes called the Coco Plum, is not a fruit of 

 great value though it is extensively grown in tropical America. The tree 

 is somewhat similar in form to the Loquat and bears plum-like fruits about 

 1-5 in. in length. The skin is thin, the flesh is white and insipid and 

 adheres to the large oblong seed. 



The bark of Quillaja saponaria, the soap tree of Chile, yields a lather 

 with water and is still used for native laundry work. 



Finally we may mention the dried female flowers of Brayera anthel- 

 mintica which are known as Koso and are used in Abyssinia as a cure for 

 tape worms. 



LEGUMINOSAE 



The Leguminosae are Archichlamydeae in which the flowers are either 

 actinomorphic or zygomorphic. The petals are usually free or sometimes 

 partly united. The stamens may be five in number but are often numerous, 

 free, monadelphous or diadelphous. The carpels are solitary and the ovary 

 superior. The fruit is a legume and the seeds are devoid of endosperm. 

 The plants may be trees, shrubs or herbs with simple, pinnate or bipinnate 

 leaves. Stipules are often present. 



The order as here defined requires some explanation. Formerly the 

 Leguminosae were regarded as a single family placed within the Rosales. 

 The marked tendency to zygomorphy, however, separates it rather sharply 

 from the latter order. Moreoever, it is clearly composed of three distinct 

 series of forms which are most conveniently considered as separate families. 

 Here, therefore, we shall follow Hutchinson and recognize the Leguminosae 

 as an order containing the families Caesalpiniaceae, Mimosaceae and 

 Papilionaceae. We shall refer briefly to the first two and consider the 

 Papilionaceae in detail. 



The Caesalpiniaceae are a rather small family which is distinguished 

 by its zygomorphic flowers, with the imbrication of the corolla ascending, in 

 contrast to the Papilionaceae in which it is descending. It includes a 

 number of important plants of which we may mention the following: 

 The genus Cassia is the source of the drug senna. Alexandrian senna is 

 produced by C. acutifolia, Italian senna by C. ohovata and Arabian senna 

 by C. angustifoUa. Purging Cassia is obtained from C. fistula. In each case 

 the leaves or the pods are dried in the sun and it is in that form that the drug 

 is imported (Fig. 15 19). Erythrophleum guineense is the Red Water Tree of 

 Sierra Leone. From it is derived the poisonous Sassy bark which is used 

 by the natives for trial by ordeal. Tamarindus indica, the Tamarind, is a 



