LEGUMINACEAE (BEAN FAMILY) 135 



PRUNUS (PLUM, CHERRY) 



Shrubs or trees. Flowers white or pink, clustered. Petals spreading. 

 Style terminal. Fruit glabrous, stone smooth or nearly so, terete or flat. 

 (Latin name of the plum.) Here belong the following : P. armeniaca (Apri- 

 cot) ; P. cerasus (Pie cherry); P. avium (Sweet cherry); P. domestica 

 (Cultivated plum), and a variety of the same (Prune). 



A. Fruit 15-20 mm. long; stone flat; flowers not in racemes. W. E. 



P. subcordata (WILD PLUM) 

 AA. Fruit 4-10 mm. long; stone subglobose. 

 B. Flowers in corymbs; fruit bright red; petiole without glands. W. C. E. 



P. emarginata (WILD CHERRY) 



BB. Flowers in racemes; fruit dark purple; petiole usually with 2 glands just below 

 point of attachment to blade. W. E. P. demissa (CHOKECHERRY) 



LEGUMINACEAE (BEAN FAMILY) 



Herbs or shrubs or trees, often vining. Leaves alternate, mostly 

 compound; stipules present. Flowers irregular, papilionaceous. 

 Calyx 4~5-toothed or -cleft, sometimes 2-lipped. Petals distinct 

 or somewhat united, usually consisting of i wide upper one (stan- 

 dard) and 2 lateral ones (wings) and 2 lower usually united ones 

 (keel). Stamens monadelphous or diadelphous or rarely distinct, 

 10 or rarely 5. Pistil i, simple; ovary superior, usually i-celled, 

 sometimes lengthwise 2-celled by the intrusion of the sutures, 

 sometimes crosswise 2- to several-celled; style i. Fruit a pod, 

 dehiscent by 2 valves or indehiscent, sometimes breaking crosswise 

 into joints. Seeds i to many. Species keys omitted in certain 

 difficult genera. (F. & R. pp. 224-242.) 



A. Trees, cultivated; stipules often spiny; leaves pinnately compound. W. E. 

 Planted for shade. (Honor of J. and V. Robin, who first cultivated the tree 

 in Europe.) Roots, leaves, and bark poisonous. Robinia pseudacacia (LOCUST) 



AA. Shrubs. 



B. Plant spiny; leaves simple, often becoming spines; branches not or hardly 

 4-angled, not conspicuously green. W. (The Latin name.) 



Ulex europeus (GORSE) 



BB. Plant not spiny; leaves with 1-3 leaflets, not becoming spines; branches 



conspicuously 4-angled, dark green. W. E. Ornamental shrub; escaped. 



(From Cythras, one of the Cyclades, where this or a related plant was first 



found.) Cytisus scoparius (SCOTCH BROOM) 



AAA. Herbs, or somewhat shrubby at base. 



C. Leaves with 3 leaflets. 



D. Stamens distinct; stipules free; leaflets entire; flowers yellow, in terminal 

 3-bracted racemes. THERMOPSIS (p. 137) 



