LEGUMINOSiR. 105 



Cultivation. — Tho hoan fffows so oasily in almost ovory varioty of soil that 

 ncarlv everv locality produces sufficient for liomc consnnii.tion. Hence, though 

 it has heconie oue of the most imi)ortaut tal)le vegetables, it has little more than 



a local sale. , , • , n .1 



It is i)lanted iu hills two and a half to three feet a]jart, or m drills three 



feet apart. . ^ ^- 1 



Use. — The bean, in its numerous forms, constitutes a very nni><.rtant article 

 of food The ripened seeds are boiled, and served plain or made into soups. 

 A flour is also produced from the ground seeds, and employed to thicken 

 cravies and soups. In New England, baked beans form a favorite dish. 

 The green pods of the P. vulgaris, when the seeds are about half-ripened, are 

 cut into half-inch pieces, and boiled, either with or without salt meat, and 

 served as a vegetable. Beans are largely used at sea and in the army, for 

 rations for the sailors and soldiers, and they are believed to afford more nutri- 

 tive material than any other substance of the same bulk. 



GLYCYRRHIZA, L. (Liquorice.) The description of Astragalus 

 applies to Glycyrrhiza, except that in the latter the anther-cells are 

 united, and the legume is continuous internally. 



G. glabra. 3 to 4 feet high. Leaves pinnate, 4 to 5 pairs, and a ter- 

 minal one ; leaflets ovate. Flowers axillary, in racemes, whitish-violet. 



G'^o.^ra;)^. — The liquorice is native to Italy and southern Europe ; it also 

 growsin the south of England, and is cultivated in Spain and Portugal. 



Etymology/ and Hisfory.- Glyryrrhiza, the generic name, is from the Greek 

 yXvKis, sweet, ^t'C«. root, sn-eetroof, due to the well-known sweet taste of the 

 liquorice. It wa.s groAvn in England in the time of Elizabeth. 



Use —Its medicinal qualities are demulcent and emollient. It is admin- 

 istered in catarrh and other irritations of the mucous membrane, and for 

 sore throat. It is largelv used to sweeten tobacco. Brewers also use it to give 

 body and to impart a sweet taste to porter and to Scotch ale. It is also 

 mixed with purgatives, under the name of liquorice-powders, to disgui.se the 

 taste of other drugs, as senna, etc. 



HJEMATOXYLON, L. (Logwood.) Calyx cup-shaped, heniisplicrical. 

 Sepals 5, nearly equal, imbricated : corolla i^ipilionaceous. Stamens 10. 

 .5 shorter. Ovary inserted in the liollow receptacle, free, short, stipi- 

 tate, nsnally 2-o^itled. Pods furnished with lance-shaped, flattened, 

 loaf-like hoans or seeds, 1-2 in a pod. Small tree. 



H. Campechianum. L.' (Logwood.) Stem 20 to .30 feet in height, and 12 

 to 18 inches in diameter ; crooked, much-l)ranched, branchlets armed with shar]) 

 spines; .sometimes appears as a shrub forming dense thorny thickets. Bark 

 dark and rough. Leaves i)innate. with 4 or .^) pairs of irregular obcordate 

 leaflets. Flowers yellow, in terminal spikes. Pods long, double-valved ; seeds 

 oblong, kidney-shaped, flattened. 



The only species of tlie genus. 



Geography. — Tho logwood-tree is native in all parts of the damp forest!* 

 of Central America, being most abundant on the peninsula of Yucatan, and 

 along the low-wooded shores of Guatemala and Hon.lnras; but it grows 

 well'^along the low banks of streams ami damp grounds of the Isthmus of 



