THE PEA FAMILY. 169 



XLVIIL— THE BAY-TREE FAMILY. Laurdce(e. 



A noble family of exotic and mostly tropical trees and shrubs, 

 generally fragrant and aromatic, if not in their living substance, in 

 their products, which include cinnamon, cassia, benzoin, camphor, and 

 sassafras. A cinnamon-tree under the cupola of the conservatory at 

 the Botanic Gardens may be found by means of its large, smooth, 

 oval, three-ribbed, entire, and pointed leaves, and panicles of small 

 white flowers, not very unlike the white-blossomed Persian lilac. 

 The only member of the family which can live in the open air in this 

 part of the country, is the bay, or Laurus nobilis, the leaves of which, 

 smelling like cinnamon, are so much esteemed for the agreeable flavour 

 they give to custards and confectionery. It is instantly distinguished 

 from all other trees by the rich odour of the leaves when bruised, 

 and by the green and insignificant blossoms, which are unisexual, and 

 appear in May. A fine young plant of it grows against the front of 

 the house. No. 38, on Bowdon Downs. The common laurel has 

 nothing to do with the genus Laurus, being a species of the Rosaceae. 



XLIX.— THE PEA FAMILY. Leguminosm or Fahacea. 



The assemblage represented by the pea is the very perfection and 

 heau-ideal of a botanical family. Every diversity of size, stature, and 

 configuration occurs in it, from the tender procumbent annual that 

 dies, like Semele, in the embraces of the summer sun, up to trees of 

 such enormous dimensions, that in reading of them we think of 

 "travellers' tales," and the age attained by which already exceeds 

 three thousand years.* Every modification of inflorescence, and of 

 the beautiful and expansive idea of the compound leaf, has examples 

 in it ; every variety also of habit and general aspect ; and yet there 

 is no family more easily recognized, or in which the original design is 

 more consistently preserved. Under all its myriad changes, it is still 

 plainly and conspicuously the Pea Family. Neither is any family 

 more widely diffiised. While it glorifies the tropics, it is the festive 

 wreath of cold and temperate climates (the island of St. Helena alone 



* See, for particulars respecting the vegetable patriarchs alluded to, " Life, its 

 Nature, Varieties, and Phenomena," chap. viii. Ed. 9. 



