46-5 
51, e¢ seg.; our common garden pea is derived from Pisum sativum, Linn., whose 
native country is extremely doubtful. The Asiatic Lentil, the seed of Lens escu- 
lenta, Moen., is well known as a food; and it was for an indigestible mess of these 
that Esau is said to have sold his birthright to his brother Jacob. It is the opinion 
of many writers on Egyptology that the Camel’s Thorn (Alhagi Maurorum,Tourn ), 
which exudes a sweet substance that may be gathered by merely shaking the 
branches, was the manna that is said to have nourished the children of Israel while 
in the wilderness. The unripe seeds of the common European Lathyrus Aphaca, 
while still young and tender, are claimed to be a useful substitute for our garden 
pease; yet, according to Lindley, they are narcotic when ripe, and if eaten then 
produce excessive headache; Dutch Mice, the tuberous roots of the same species, 
are amylaceous, and eaten in Holland. The fruit of the Caspian Vicia Fada, Linn., 
is eaten young, as in the last-mentioned species, but the roots are a narcotic 
poison. Johannisbrod, so greatly esteemed in Germany, is the pulp of the fruit 
of the Syrian Ceratonia Siligua, Linn.* The tropical oil, ground, or peanut, the 
fruit of Arachis hypogea, Linn,—which so strangely ripens under the ground after 
flowering at some distance above it—furnishes an oil not inferior to that from 
the olive, which is used largely to adulterate table oils. The fruits are too well 
known as an article of commerce to need description. The “cake,” formed after 
pressing out the oil from the nuts, is very digestible, and should be more exten- 
sively used as a flesh-forming food for cattle. 
Among the many food-products of the North American Indians derived from 
this order we find: the Prairie Potato or Bread-root (Psoralea esculenta), greatly 
esteemed by the Sioux, who use this root extensively under the name of “-sin- 
nah. It is of a sweetish, turnip-like taste, is often cut in thin slices and dried for 
winter use, and when pulverized forms a light, starchy flour; it is very palatable, 
however prepared. 
Another so-called wild potato, or ground-nut of the Sioux—the true pomme- 
de-terre of the French—is afforded by Agios tuberosa, and is largely used as an 
article of diet. 
Bur Clover (Medicago lupulina) produces an abundance of seed, much 
relished by the Indians. The Indian pop-pea, the fruit of several species of the 
genus Astragalus, is highly valued, when boiled, by the Indians of the Western 
Territories. The Screw bean (Strombocarpus pubescens), although insipid until 
quite dry, is no sooner ripe than it becomes very sweet and palatable, and is con- 
sidered a superb article of diet by the Indians along the Colorado River, who 
collect with assiduity all they can store for winter use. When ground it is made 
into sun-baked bread, like the next. The fruit of the Mesquite (Prosopsis juliflora) 
is an important article of food for many Indian tribes; the pods, with their seeds, 
are pounded into a coarse meal, mixed into doughy cakes with water, and baked 
in the sun, after which they keep for long periods. This bread-cake is very sweet 
and nutritious.+ ; 
Many leguminose plants afford excellent dyes, principal among which are 
indigo and logwood, both of which have been mentioned; further than these we 
* Johanniskraut is Hypericum perforatum (Hypericaceze), and Johanniswurzel, i/ix Mas (Filices). 
+ J. A. Dodge, in U. S. Agric. Rept., 1870, pp. 404-428. 
