170 



THE PEA FAMILY. 



excepted) ; and though numbers of its species are proximately un- 

 serviceable, there are few that can be designated insignificant or 

 weedy. In every family there is a proportion of uninteresting plants. 

 In the middle of a rich kingdom we always expect a certain amount 

 •of desert land, and the LeguminoscB only follow the usual rule. The 



Fig. 117. 

 Buttei-fly-shaped flower. 



Fig. 118. 

 Legume of Pea. 



variety of their use to man is as great as the multiformity of their 

 features. Timber ; dyes, such as logwood ; medicines, such as senna 

 leaves ; sweet and nourishing vegetables of the kind called pulse, as 

 peas, beans, and the flat-sided lentils ; gums, including gum-arabic 

 and gum-tragacanth ; wholesome juices, such as liquorice ; perfumes, 



Fig. l-^O. 

 Diadelphous stamens. 



fig. 119. 

 Pinnate leaf with tendril. 



such as the Tonquin-bcan, are all yielded abundantly by this noble 

 family, which stands among plants like the city of Queen Dido in 

 the days of yEneas, — " Carthago, dives opum." Deleterious species 

 frequently occm- in the tropics, but there are none such in England, 



