LEGUMINOS.E. 



31 



Fie. A. On the left is Homckia 

 siibpinnala, showing a full-grown 

 pod and a flower as seen from above. 

 On the right is a pod and flowers 

 of Hosackia Purshiana. At a is a 

 single flower with its bract as seen 

 from the front. The lower leaves 

 and bracts are larger. 



FIG. B. A head of Trifoliumfuca- 



A im,with all but three of the flowers 



removed, showing the common receptacle and the involucre. 



FIG. C. An axillary spike of Astragalus didymocarpus, with ripe fruit. Below 

 is one of the pods magnified. 



This order is remarkable for the number of useful and beautiful plants 

 which belong to it. Pease, beans, lentils, peanuts, clover, alfalfa, etc., 

 furnish food for man and domestic animals. Tropical plants of this 

 order supply, among others, the following articles of commerce: Gum 

 arabic, gum Senegal, gum copal, dragon's blood, indigo, logwood, brazil- 

 wood, rosewood, tamarind. Many species have medical value, as senna, 

 catchu, copaiba, etc. 



There are over 6,000 species of leguminous plants, mostly tropical. 

 About 350 species are natives of the United States, more than half of 

 which are found in California. Only 4 or 5 species are common to this 

 coast and the Atlantic States, and these have forms peculiar to each 

 coast. Our 180 species are grouped under 14 genera, while the 150 species 

 of the East (/. <?., the Mississippi States and eastward to the Atlantic), 

 represent 50 genera. There are about 40 species of lupine, and the same 

 number belonging to the genus Astragalus, growing within the limits of 

 this State. Only 2 kinds of the former and 4 of the latter grow east 

 of the Mississippi. The latter is the largest American genus of the 



