134 



MIMOSA. 



of the abundant and various aliment it furnishes for man and the 

 domestic animals. Some of these plants are herbaceous, and 

 others are even very tall trees ; their flowers are generally com- 

 posed of a monose'palous calyx, ordinarily campanu'liform or 

 tubular, and a corolla with five unequal petals, the general form 

 of which bears some resemblance to that of a butterfly ; the 

 stamens are almost always ten in number, and joined together in 

 two unequal fasciculi ; the fruit is a cod or legume, generally 

 elongated, compressed, bivalve, and has a single cell enclosing 

 seeds which are ordinarily globular or lenticular. The leaves 

 are almost always alternate, and the stem varies much. 



101. This very natural family has been divided into three 

 sections, the Papiliona'cese, Cassia, and Mimosse. 



102. The Papiliona 'cecz are characterized by the papiliona'- 

 ceous corolla (Jig. 94), and have, in general, ten diadelphous 

 stamens, as broom (Spartium scoparium), pea (Pisum sativum), 

 laburnum (Cy'tisus laburnum]. 



103. The Cassice have an equal and regular corolla of three 

 or five petals, and ten stamens, of which some are frequently 

 abortive, as the Senna shrub (Cassia senna), the Tamarind tree 

 ( Tamarindus indica). 



104. The Mimo'scB have a double calyx, the external small 

 and of five teeth, the internal monosepalous and tubular (some- 

 times called corolla), and 

 numerous stamens, general- 

 ly monodelphous, as the sen- 

 sitive plant (fig. 163) 

 (Mimosa pudica] the Gum 

 Arabic tree (a'cacia vera), 

 &c. The most common fea- 

 ture of the family of Legu- 

 minosse, is (Mr. Lindley ob- 

 serves) " to have what are 

 called papiliona'ceous flow- 

 ers ; and when these exist, 

 no difficulty is experienced 

 in recognising the order, for 

 papiliona'ceous flowers exist 

 nowhere else. Another and 

 more invariable character is 



Fig. 163. SENSITIVE PLANT. 



101. How is the family of Legumino'sffi divided ? 



102. How are the Papiliona' ceee characterized ? (from the Latin, papilio^ 

 a butterfly, because the flower bears some resemblance to a butterfly.) 



103. What are the characters of the Cas'siae ? 



104. What are the characters of the Mimosas ? 



