NEILGHERRY PLANTS. 43 
XXVI.—LEGUMINOS. 
This is a most extensive and interesting family of plants second only to Composite in 
the number of its species and, viewed in connection with its economical relations to man, 
casting that gigantic Natural order far into the shade, This is indeed a splendid family 
being, in every point of view except the mere number of its species, the first of the vegeta- 
ble kingdom and even as regards number, the difference between it and Composite is by no 
means so great as was once supposed. It was, I have heard, the belief of Professor 
DeCandolle when entering on the herculian task of preparing, for his invaluable prodro- 
mus, a synoptical monograph of Composite that that family included about 14,000 species: 
but when the whole were brought to light the actual number proved to be little more than 
half, or about 8000, to which probably about 1000 have since been added. The number of 
Leguminose described by him 20 years ago in the same work, was about 3,500 species. 
Since then the number has been nearly, if not actually, doubled, thus placing those two 
great orders more nearly on a par than could have been anticipated. 
This family embraces within its extended limits some of the largest trees of the forest 
and the smallest herbs of the meadow: it supplies man with much wholesome food for him- 
self and excellent fodder for his cattle, with some valuable medicines and numerous drugs, 
useful in the arts; the trees supply him with abundance of valuable timber, while the bark 
provides cordage and coarse cloth. Such are some of the numerous claims of this family 
to his attention and consideration in an economical point of view, exclusive of the gratifi- 
cation he derives from their comtemplation as ornamental objects suited to gratify the senses 
by the beauty of their forms and the elegance and fragrance of their numerous rich and 
variously coloured flowers. 
This Natural order of plants naturally divides itself into two principal sections, distin- 
guished in the first instance by the direction of the radicle of the seed, namely into Cur- 
vembrie having the radicle bent down on the edge of the cotyledons and Rectembrie having 
the radicle straight. These distinctions are easily ascertained by merely peeling a seed and 
observing the direction of the growing points. ‘The plants thus separated by that minute 
point of structure are more widely severed by other marks taken from the habit, inflores- 
cence, and form of the flowers; and also by properties. 
To the first of these divisions belong the vast tribe of Papilionacee including peas, beans, 
in aword the whole Pulse family. In this division the flowers, with a few exceptions, are 
all papilionacious, or pea flowered : a name derived from some fanciful resemblance they bear 
to a butterfy. To the second belong Cesalpinee including the bonduc, sapan, logwood, 
senna, &c., all having more or less regular flowers, aud the Mimosee in which they are per- 
fectly regular and otherwise very dissimilar from the rest of the order, but which is at 
once recognized as belonging to it by the presence of a legume. ‘These two sections thus 
afford a beautiful and striking example of the value of characters derived from the seed 
which, though minute and apparently in themselves of small moment, are yet, when followed 
aut, indicative of the greatest differences in the characters of the vegetation. 
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