164 ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 



They make a favorite dish of the seeds, called Tau hu, which resem- 

 bles curd, and which, though insipid, is made agreeable and wholesome 

 by seasoning. 



CYTISUS, Leguminosae, C. 17. O. 4. sp. 24-41. E. & Da. ft. 2-30. 

 A genus of ornamental trees and shrubs of which some species are 

 much admired. The true Laburnum, the false ebony of the French, is 

 often sown in plantations, the twigs of which hares and rabits are ex- 

 tremely fond. The timber has been sold for $2 or $3 per foot. It 

 is often planted as a fence to the sugar plantations in the W. Indies, 

 and it thrives on barren soil. The seed is much eaten by the poor 

 and negroes, and is considered a wholesome pulse. By some it is pre- 

 ferred to the pea. It is mostly used for feeding pigeons, but is given, 

 with the branches and leaves, to feed and fatten hogs, horses and 

 cattle. It should be cultivated here. 



VETCH, (vicia sativa) belonging to the class and order of the com- 

 mon bean. This is commonly known as a small species of bean grow- 

 ing wild in dry meadows and corn fields. They are cultivated in 

 England, but little here. The pods are usually in pairs ; leaves 

 winged, with about 6 pairs of leaflets, and branched tendril at the ex- 

 tremity. They are chiefly useful as an agricultural plant, for feeding 

 horses and cattle. They are grown early, to allow for sowing turnips 

 the same year; but are often ploughed in, when the soil is to receive 

 a wheat crop. The seeds are very grateful to pigeons. Tares are of 

 the same species. 



V. Eroilia is cultivated in parts of Europe for the above purposes, 

 but is inferior. The others of the 16 species are little cultivated. The 

 Horse bean, now much cultivated, has 2 or 3 varieties, one of which is 

 the Tick bean, a low plant and good bearer, much used in England, 

 says a British writer, for horses and fattening cattle, and formerly 

 much bought up at Bristol for the Guinea ships as food for the negroes 

 in, their passage from Africa to the. West Indies." 



CAROB TREE, Ceratonia, C. 23. O. 2., a Leguminous evergreen, 

 and called St. John's bread, as St. John is said to have fed on the long 

 pods, containing a sweet fecula, for which they are now imported. It 

 is the locust tree of scripture. The seeds are eaten in Spain, where 

 the tree is common. 



ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 



These consist of bulbous-rooted plants, belonging to the natural or- 

 der of dsphodelece. The bulbs grow upwards from the crown of the 

 roots, instead of downwards, as with the tuberous roots we have des- 

 cribed. They are not, therefore, strictly speaking, roots, but buds, 

 destined for the protection of the embryo of the future plant, as will be 

 seen by reference to our article on buds and bulbs. They comprise 



