LEGUMINOS^.. 



99 



is the fiiip fliiko n^iiin of (•(Hiinu'rco. Tliorc aro also small lumps constantly 

 appearing on the stem and l)ranflies, wiiieh are picked off. These kinds 

 are mixed, but are afterwards separated into several varieties, according 

 to (juality, for the markets of Europe and America. The gum consists 

 of two substances, Arabin, which resembles gunj Arabic, which is readily 

 soluble in water, and Trafjucanthin, which water causes to swell but will not 

 dissolve, (ium tragacauth forms a mucilaginous jelly, with fifty times its 

 weight of water. 



^'.se. — In medicine, gum tragacauth is used as a demulcent, and a medium 

 to aid in suspending licjuid medicines. It is also used for a paste or cement; 

 for suspending inks and dyes ; for preparing fabrics for dyeing, and for 

 stiffening crapes. Shoemakers use it for a paste to fasten the linings in 

 shoes. It is used by confectioners and pharmacists to furnish adhesiveness to 

 materials of which lozenges are made. 



AKACHIS, L. (Peanut.) Calyx of the staminate flower with a slender 

 tube ; limb 2-lipped, upper lip -l-toothed. Corolla resupmate. Stamens 

 9, united in a tube. 

 Pistillate flowers 

 without calyx, co- 

 rolla, or stamens. 

 Ovary on a slender 

 peduncle, whicli 

 lengthens down- 

 wards, and forces the 

 fertilized pistil into 

 the ground, where 

 the legume matures. 

 Legume oblong, ob- 

 tuse at each end, 

 somewhat cylindri- 

 cal, 1, 2, or 3-seeded; 

 seeds ovoid. Flowers 

 axillary, lower ones 

 fertile, upper ones 

 sterile. 



A. hypogaea. Willd. 

 (Peanut, (iroiiiid Nut. 

 Ground Pea. Monkey 

 Xut.) Stem 9 to IS 

 inches long, prostrate, 

 branching, and liairy. 

 Leaves composed of 2 pairs of leaflets, which are an inch to an inch and a 

 half long, obovate. entire, nuicronate at the apex, bordered by a hairy nerve, 

 aub-sessile ; connnon petiole 1 to 2 inches long, channeled above, and hairy. 

 Flowers axillary, orange-yellow, appearing in July. Fruit ripens in latter 

 part of Sei)tember. While the process of ripening is going on the pod sinks 

 under ground. 



Of this plant there are seven species, only one of which seems to be under 

 cultivation. Of this one there are .several varieties, differing from each other 



Arachis hypocba (Peanut). 



