4 GENERAL REMARKS 



The Mimosea2 are distinguished from the two other sub- 

 families by tlie unvarying regularity of their flowers ; that is 

 to say, every variety of the Mimose^e has the same type of 

 flower, in which the corolla is valvate with one or several 

 sepals. Everybody is acquainted with the flower of the 

 acacia, which, with the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica), is 

 the most familiar of Mimoseae, and all the remaining species, 

 like these two, have the flowers arranged in globular capitula. 

 ]n certain parts of the flower the Mimosea may show varia- 

 tion, but it is not within the scope of this work to detail the 

 parts of flowers in each species. 



Here we only have five subdivisions : — 



I. Parkieoe 



II. Adenanthereie 



III. Eumimosese 



IV. Acaciese 

 V. Ingeee 



Pentaclethra. 



Adenanlhera. 



Mimosa. 



Acacia. 



Albizzia. 



These subdivisions have been taken from Vesc]ue's 

 *' Botanique," and although all botanists are not agreed as 

 to this classiticaiion, the above groups seem to be the best. 



Among the Dicotyledons, the immense family of the 

 Leguminos£E is one of the most characteristic and, at the 

 same time, one of those in which the tvpe of organization 

 undergoes the most far-reaching modifications. It ranks as 

 one of the most important in nature, and renders manifold 

 service to the human race. 



The Leguminosc© inhabit every clime ; though extremely 

 numerous in the torrid and temperate zones, they also have 

 representatives in Arctic latitudes, on the very boundary line 

 of the vegetation limit. These plants are of every dimension, 

 from the tiniest herbs to the most gigantic trees. Commerce 

 and domestic economy obtain from them all kinds of pro- 

 ducts : seeds of value for food or, oil, farinaceous tubers, 

 fodder, fertilizers as by-products, woods highly valued for 

 their beauty or their strength, dyes and medicinal matter, and 

 finally a prodigious variety of ornamental herbaceous or 

 arborescent plants. 



