182 



PLANTS AND MAN 



Fig. 115. — Lima beans, na 

 tive to tropical America, pro 

 duce broad flat pods. 



broad flat pods, and contain more mealy and larger seeds than 



kidney beans. 



Lentils are bean-like plants 

 native to southwestern Asia; they 

 are among the most ancient of food 

 plants, having been cultivated by 

 the Egyptians and Greeks. The short 

 broad pods bear lens-shaped seeds 

 which have such a high protein 

 content that they are often included 

 in diets to replace meat. The chief 

 use of lentils today is in soups. 



All of the varieties of edible peas 

 come from a trailing tendril-bearing 

 vine native to southern Europe and 

 cultivated by the Greeks and the 



Romans. Unlike many of the legumes, peas can stand cool 



summer temperatures; most of the American crop is raised in 



states adjacent to Canada, and in 



Canada itself. The less common field 



peas, with colored flowers and angular 



rather dry seeds, still grow wild in 



Greece; these are grown for meal and 



split peas, as well as for livestock feed. 



The more familiar garden peas (flg. 116) 



with white flowers and plump sugary 



seeds, presumably originated in western 



Asia, but their wild prototype is un- 

 known. 



One of the most unusual members of 



the family is the peanut, a bushy annual 



of Brazil producing a shell-like pod (the 



"shuck" of the peanut) which must 



mature underground. After fertilization 



the flower stalk elongates and pushes the 



developing pod into the earth; the ovary 



of the fertilized flower would wither and fail to mature if it 



remained above ground (fig. 117). Peanuts grow best in sandy 



Fig. 116.— The garden 

 pea has inedible pods, con- 

 taining plump sugary 

 seeds. 



