LEGUMINOSiE. (PEA FAMILY.) 



38a 



Fig. A. On the left is Tlosaclia sub' 

 pinnata, fcho-vving a full grown pod 

 and a fl iwer as seen from above. On 

 tlie right is a pod and flowers of 

 Ho.^acJda Purshiana. At a is a single 

 flower wi'ih its bract as seen from the 

 front. The lower leaves and bracts 

 are larger. 



Fig. B. A head of Trifhlium, fuca- 

 A turn, with all but three of the flowers 



removed, showing the common receptacle and the involucre. 



Fig. C. An- axillary spike of Astragalus didymocarpus, with ripe fruit. Below is 

 one of the pods magnified. 



Thi.s order is remarkable for the number of useful and beautiful plants 

 wliicli belong to it. Pease, beans, lentils, peanuts, clover, alfalfa, etc., 

 furnish food for man and domestic animals. Tropical plants of this 

 order supply, among others, the following articles of commerce: Gum 

 arable, gum Senegal, gum copal, dragon's-blood, indigo, logwood, brazil- 

 wood, rosewood, tamarind. Many species have medical value, as senna, 

 catchu, copaiba, etc. 



There are over 6,000 species of leguminous plants, mostly tropical. 

 About 350 species are natives of the United States, more than half of 

 w]iich are found in California. Only 4 or 5 species are common to this 

 coast and the Atlantic States, and these have forms peculiar to each 

 coast. Our 180 species are grouped under 14 genera, while the 150 species 

 of the East (i. e., the Mississippi States and eastward to the Atlantic), 

 represent 50 genera. There are about 40 species of lupine, and the same 

 number belonging to the genus Astragalus, growing within the limits of 

 this State. Only two kinds of the former and 4 of the latter grow east 

 of the Mississippi. The latter is the largest American genus of the 



