CHAPTER VIII 



PRINCIPAL INTRODUCED NONGRASSLIKE 

 FORAGE HERBS 



The principal introduced nongrasslike forage plants are mem- 

 bers of the pea, pulse, or bean family {Fabaceae, or " Fapilio- 

 naceae " of the older botanists). This great natural family em- 

 braces upwards of 325 genera and 5,000 species of world-wide 

 distribution, and is characterized by its irregular, 5-merous, 

 papilionaceous (" butterfly-like ") flowers, the stamens mostly 

 10 and diadelphous, and by the stipulate, usually compound 

 (mostly pinnate or palmate) leaves, though rarely the leaflets 

 are reduced to one. Practically all the older botanists and a few 

 of the modern ones merge the family Fabaceae (under the sub- 

 family or tribal names Papilionoideae, Faboideae, etc.) in what 

 is called by them the legume family (Leguminosae) , a group con- 

 stituting upwards of 10,000 species, whose fruit is the character- 

 istic legume (" pea pod ") but whose flowers are, save for the 

 pea-bean group, mostly rotate and never truly papilionaceous. 

 This conception of the family embraces the acacias, sensitive- 

 plants or mimosas, partridge-peas, sennas, and kramerias, with 

 the common garden pea and bean; but this enlarged group most 

 present-day taxonomists prefer to regard as an order, rather than 

 family, and, as such, term it Fabales, or Leguminales. 



As a cultivated forage group only the Fabaceae, or restricted 

 pea, bean, or pulse family, are of concern here. Nearly all these 

 plants have nitrogen-fixing bacteria living symbiotically on their 

 roots and hence are rich in proteids. It is natural, therefore, 

 that, generaUy speaking, this group is highly esteemed by stock- 

 men because of the exceptional nutritive qualities of many of the 

 species. 



The most important legumes used as cultivated pasture plants 

 are the true clovers, sweet clover, bur clovers, alfalfa or lucerne, 

 cowpeas, soybeans, vetches, velvet bean, and Japan clover. 



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