COMl'llSriK^X (IF Till'. FLOKA. 



93 



but ()•') <iiit of 4.'>6 sjiocics ai'c Australiiin. 'I'wn 

 goiicra in this sul)faniily arc Aiiii'ricaii, L' 

 African, 1 Asiatic. 1 Mediterranean ( l-'iirasia), 

 ami 1 cnnmKin to North America and Asia. 



In the eastcru I'nitcd States lliere ai-e 4(1 

 genci'a and 104 species of PapiUoiiacea'. 'i'lie 

 genera Cladrastis and Roliiiiia are ari)orescent. 

 In tlie Southern States there are 5.") genera and 

 318 s]H'cies. Sargent's "ifamial of North 

 American trees," which inchides many tr()|n- 

 cal forms of the Florida Keys, enumerates for 

 the Leguminosffi as a whole only ;)4 arbores- 

 cent species for North America in 17 gen(>ra. 



In Grisebach's "Flora of the British West 

 Indies" the Leguminosa^, with ■_'62 species, 

 outmnnher all other families of flowering 

 l)lants. The same is true of Url)an's "Flora 

 of Porto Kico," which incluch's 130 species. 



According to Schombmg tlie Leguminos:i? 

 constitute the largest alliance in Britisii 

 Guiana and include aljout 475 species. On 

 the Malay Peninsula, in Borneo, and in the 

 Philippines they are exceeded hi specific dif- 

 ferentiation only by the Orchidacea' and the 

 Rnhiacca', and in the Celebes, according to 

 Koorders, the Legumhiosai are the largest 

 alliance. In Central America, according to 

 Ilemsley, they rank third in numbers. When 

 Bentham and Hooker 2iuljlished the "'Genera 

 plantarum," the Legummosse comprised more 

 than 5 por cent of the genera and nearly 7 per 

 cent of the species of all flowering plants. As 

 might he expected the later evolved and more 

 temperate group, the Papilionacea', are the 

 most widely dispersed. 



The Leguminosse are but sparsely represented 

 in the New Zealand region. They are also 

 practically luirepresented by endemic species 

 on remote oceanic islands (quite contrary to 

 the prevailing rule among the CompositaO, 

 especially on those unfavorable to coloniza- 

 tion by drift seeds. In Hemslcy's "Flora of 

 Mexico and Central America" the Legumi- 

 nosir include 27 per cent of the genera and 14.5 

 ])er cent of the species of Lcguminosa of the 

 wliole world, and they constitute 8.1 jier cent 

 of the total number of flowering ]>lants in that 

 flora (044 species). At least 12 of the species 

 are common to western Africa. 



Of tlie 50 species in 30 genera of tiie Legumi- 

 nosa» tliat occur in tlie existing flora of the Fiji 

 Islands, jialf the sjiecies and 20 genera belong 

 to the strand flora. This family coiiiiiriscs 



about 5 pel' cent of the total known flora of 

 the islands. It constitutes about 2!) per cent 

 of tiie total I'ijian straml lloi-a, and this pro- 

 ]iortion is eipialed or slightly exceeded in the 

 Societ\-. Mar<(uesas, and Paumotus islands. 

 Acc<irding to (iuppy about onc-lliird of the 

 littoral Polynesian plants with !)uoyaiit seeds 

 or fruits belong to the Leguminosa'. 



The Leguminosa' are represented in the WO- 

 cox deposits !)y more than 50 species, many 

 of which are individually abuiulant. They 

 represent the families Mimosacea', Cresalpinia- 

 ceu', and Papilionacea. The fourth faniUy of 

 the l(>guminous alliance, the Krameriacea, is 

 a small hcrt)aceous grou]) of the New World, 

 of very late, probably of recent, evolution. 



Of these Wilcox species 11 are refeiTi'd to the 

 Mimosacea% 26 to the C^salpiniacea, and 20 

 to the Paijilionacea". Definitely recognized 

 genera are named hi. the usual way. Forms 

 usually identified as species of Acacia (for 

 examiile, most of those so named by Heer, 

 Ettingshausen, and Unger), which are refera- 

 ble to the Mimosacea but not to the genus 

 Acticia as commonly understood, are referred 

 to the form genus Mimosites. Forms not cer- 

 tainly identified as Casal|)inia but referable 

 to the (■a'salpiniacea are classed under the 

 form gcinus Ca'salpinites, and a considerable 

 numb(u- of Gleditsia-like forms of both leaves 

 and pods are described in the genus Gleditsio- 

 ])hyllum, a form genus fii-st proposed by me 

 for an Upper Cretaceous species from North 

 Carolina. There is a certain unavoidable du- 

 plication in the giving of specific names to 

 unattached pods and leaflets, smce some of 

 them may belong to the same liotanic species, 

 but I have followed this method wherever I 

 was not sm-(^ of such a relationship. 



Tlie Mimosacea of the WUcox are referred 

 to 4 genera. The genus Acacia, which is rep- 

 resented by a single indisputable species in 

 which the leaves are reduced to jihyllodes, is 

 of great interest, since in the existing flora the 

 450 sjiccies are largely confined to the Aus- 

 tralian I'egion. The section PhyUodiuea, to 

 which the Wilcox species is referrcul, contains 

 about 300 existing species, which are confined 

 to Australia and Oceanica, altliough in Eocene^ 

 times they were also present in Europe. It is 

 a curious commentary on the modern character 

 of the earlier Tertiary floras that the reduction 

 of fohar organs and the habit of phyUoely, often 



