402 LEGUMINOS.*:. 



Tonka-beans. A similar fragrance is given out by some species of 

 Melilot, the flowers and seeds of which are employed to give the 

 peculiar odour to Gruyere cheese. Arachis hypogcea produces its 

 legumes under ground, and receives the name of under-ground Kidney- 

 bean, or Ground-nut. Eryihrina monosperma yields Gum lac. The 

 roots of Glycine Apios, or Apios tuberosa, are used as an article of 

 food in America. Robinia pseudo-acacia is often cultivated in Britain 

 as the Locust-tree. The tree attains in England a height varying 

 from forty-five to eighty feet, and sometimes has a diameter of three 

 feet. Its wood is durable. According to Bertoloni, a kind of Ebony 

 is the produce of Fornasinia ebenifera, a papilionaceous plant, found 

 in Caffraria, near Mozambique. Rosewood is said to be the timber 

 of two or three species of Trioptolomea. It is rare to find papiliona- 

 ceous plants produce double flowers. The Whin is one of the plants 

 which exhibits this monstrosity. Desmodium or Hedysarum yyrans 

 exhibits a remarkable irritability in its leaves (^[ 660). There are 

 certain poisonous plants in this suborder. The seeds and bark of 

 Cytisus Laburnum are narcotic ; such is said also to be the case 

 with those of Lathyrus Cicera, and L. Aphaca. The roots of many 

 species of Phaseolus, as P. multiflorus, the Scarlet-runner, and P. 

 radiatus, are poisonous. The branches and leaves of Tephrosia toxi- 

 caria, and the bark of the root of Piscidia erythrina, Jamaica Dogwood, 

 are employed as fish poisons. A species of Gompholobium has poisoned 

 sheep in the Swan Eiver colony. Coronilla varia acts as a narcotic 

 poison. The leaves of it and of Coronilla Emerus are sometimes used 

 to adulterate Senna. 



851. Suborder Ccesalpiniece. In this section there are many plants 

 which furnish purgative remedies. Among these may be noticed 

 various species of Cassia. C. lanceolata, acutifolia, elongata, obtusata, 

 and obovata, supply the various kinds of Senna known as Alexandrian or 

 Egyptian, Tripoli, and East Indian Senna. Other species also, as Cassia 

 marilandica, Absus, corymbosa, biflora, tomentosa, alata, and Porturegalis, 

 have purgative leaves. Cassia Fistula, called also Cathartocarpus 

 Fistula, has an indehiscent pod, divided by numerous transverse 

 phragmata (fig. 395), and containing a laxative pulp, which is a secre- 

 tion from the endocarp. A pulp having similar properties is procured 

 from the pericarp of Tamarindus indica, the Tamarind-tree. The pod 

 of Ceratonia Siliqua is known as the Algaroba-bean, and is used occa- 

 sionally for feeding horses. The tree is denominated Carob-tree, and 

 sometimes Locust-tree, or St. John's Bread, from a tradition that the 

 pulpy matter surrounding the seeds supplied food to St. John in the 

 wilderness. The pods of Hymencea Gourbaril, the West Indian Locust- 

 tree, supply a nutritious matter ; its inner bark is anthelmintic, and 

 the plant yields a kind of resin called Anime. The bark of Guilandina 

 Cj the Nicker-tree, is bitter, tonic, and its seeds are said to be 



