THE POD-BEARERS 



TREES of high ornamental and timber value. Leaves com- 

 pound (except in Cercis), alternate, deciduous. Flower? 

 sweet pea-like, or regular. Fruit, a pod. 



The family Leguminosae, to which our pod-bearing trees 

 belong, is one of vast size and economic importance, and of 

 world-wide distribution. There are nearly 450 genera and 

 over 7,000 species. Peas, beans, lentils, clover all plants 

 that bear simple, 2-valved pods after the flowers are in- 

 cluded. By this sign they are easily recognizable when in 

 fruit. Besides foodstuffs, the pod-bearers yield rubber, 

 balsams, oils, dyestuffs, good timber, and a long list of orna- 

 mental plants. The grass family, which includes the chief 

 forage and grazing plants, the grains and sugar cane, is the 

 only one that ranks higher than the pod-bearers in service to 

 human family. 



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