310 



HISTORY OK THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



The French sorrel, or round leaved, is the 

 ntincx saitatus, with somewhat hastate blunt 

 leaves, cultivated in gardens. 



Both sorts are used in soups, sauces, and salads; 

 and by the French and Dutch as a spinach. 

 The succulent stalks may also be used like those 

 of rhubarb for tarts. 



CHAP. XXXIII. 



LKGUMINOTO PLANTS, — THE PEA, BEAN, KIDNEY- 

 BEAN, VETCH, LENTIL, LUCERN, CLOVER, &C. 



There is a great variety of most important 

 plants which have been grouped under the na- 

 tural family Leguminosce. 

 The form of the' corolla called in. 



papilionaceous, from its shape 

 resembling a butterfly, char- 

 acterises a large number, as the 

 pea tribe; and the pinnate 

 leaves and pods include the 

 remainder, as the mimos8e,and 

 similar shrubs. Though there 

 is thus a marked resemblance 

 in structure, yet the family in- 

 cludes plants possessing very opposite properties, 

 some being bland and nutritious, as the pea, bean, 

 and others of the same tribe; while others are pur- 

 gative, emetic, and otherwise highly stimulating 

 to the animal system. As objects of ornament 

 many are possessed of unrivalled beauty; such, 

 among the trees and shrubs, are the laburnum, 

 robinia, cytisus, and amorpha; among hardy 

 climbing plants the far-famed glycone of China, 

 and its sister of North America, with the num- 

 erous more lowly herbaceous families of vicia 

 andlathyrus; the numerous kinds of lupines and 

 astragalus. Great, however, as is the beauty of 

 these plants of the temperate regions, it must 

 give way before the splendour and elegance of 

 similar inhabitants of the tropics. The flowers 

 of the erythrina or coral tree, are of the deepest 

 crimson, and wave in profiision upon some of 

 the loftiest trees of the forest. The bauhinias, 

 with their snake-like stems and turn leaves, hang 

 in festoons of flowers from branch to branch of 

 other trees, and are only rivalled by the less 

 vigorous and elegant, but more richly coloured 

 blossoms of the caqjofagus. But all these, with 

 their broad foliage and gaudy colours, are far 

 surpassed by the rugged trunks, light trembling 

 foliage, and golden flowers of the mimosa, which 

 cast a rich glow over even the most sterile deserts 

 of burning Africa. While the tropical forests 

 are thus adorned, the meadows and pastures of 

 the same latitudes are enamelled with the flowers 

 of myriads of hydesarumous and sensitive plants, 



shrinking on the slightest external touch, like 

 beings of a higher and animated order. As in 

 our own country, the gayest part of our scenery 

 is in many places indebted to the yellow blos- 

 soms of our furze and broom; so in those regions 

 other leguminosie, as the liparia, barbonia, as- 

 palathus, davisias, and aoluses, spread profusely 

 their gay blossoms to the common gaze. The 

 trees of this family have a very hard and durable 

 wood, of a yellow tinge, sometimes passing into 

 green, as in the laburnum and Brazil wood. 



The pulses, vetches, and similar families, all 

 afford seeds containing a farinaceous matter, some 

 with a considerable quantity of oil. The pulp 

 of the tamarind and other mimosie, are more or 

 less purgative, and are used in medicine. The 

 leaves of senna also afford a well known purga- 

 tive. The astringent substance called catechu, 

 is the expressed juice of a mimosa, as well as 

 the gums tragacanth and Arabic, the latter being 

 of a bland, mucilaginous nature. 



Several of the same tribe yield balsams, as the 

 balsam of Tolu and Copaiva. Indigo, liquorice, 

 logwood, are all derived from plants of this 

 family. 



The LiguminossE are included in the class 

 Diadelphia, order Decandria, of Linnseus. The ■ 

 family has been arranged into three natural 

 tribes, thus : 



1. Papilionacem. The corolla formed of five 

 unequal petals, constituting the irregular or pa- 

 pilionaceous corolla, with the stamina generally 

 diadelphous, as the bean, robinia, astragalus, 

 &c. 



2. CassiecB. Corolla generally formed of five 

 regular petals; the ten stamina usually free, a 

 cassia, bauhinia, &c. 



3. Mimosw. Containing the apetalous genera, 

 furnished with acalcyform involucrum; stamina 

 very numerous, and free, as the mimosa, acacia, 

 inga. 



As we shall consider many of the genera of 

 this family under other heads, we confine our 

 descriptions at present to the liguminous plants 

 used as food. 



The Legumes, or Pulses, are, perhaps, next to 

 the cerealia and the potato, the most important 

 of esculent vegetables. They are numerous, 

 most universally diffused, and many which are 

 not applicable for human food can still be ad- 

 vantageously used as nourishment for domestic 

 animals. 



The whole of the edible legumes, with the 

 exception of some of the species which grow on 

 trees, have papilionaceous flowers. The seeds 

 are contained in an oblong legumen, or pod, 

 consisting of two valves, on the upper suture of 

 which they are placed alternately on each side. 

 These seeds, in germinating, have no power of 

 pushing forth more than one stem, as in the case 

 of the cercaliu, so that the pea does not tiUer, 



