LEGUMINOSAE £21 



acuminate, 8 to 15 cm long, subcorlaceous. Panicles in the upper axils, 

 rusty-pubescent,- many-flowered, 10 to 20 cm long. Flowers yellowi^- 

 white, fragrant, about 7 mm long. Pods red, 2 to 3 cm long, obovoid, 

 somewhat curved and compressed, short-stalked. 



In thickets, Masambong, fl. Peb.-Mareh; widely distributed in the Phil- 

 ippmes. Endemic, 



65. LEGUMINOSAE ^ (Bean or Narra Family) 



Annual or perennial herbs or vines, shrubs, or trees. Leaves usually 

 alternate, stijftlate, simple, digitate, or pinnate. Flowers in axillary or 

 terminal racemes or panicles, sometimes solitary, brScts and bracteoles 

 usually present. Flowers regular (Mimosoideae) or irregular, usually 

 perfect. Calyx truncate or toothed^ sometimes 2-lipped, the lobes some- 

 times free pr nearly sa. Petals usually 6, sometimes reduced to 1 or 3, 

 equal (Mimosoideae) or very unequal. Stamens normally 10, fewer in 

 somiB genera, or indefiufte in some MimosoHeae ; filaments free or variously 

 combined. Ovary free, superior, 1- to m^ny^ovuled; style simple; stigma 

 capitate, terminal or oblique. Fruit a usually dry or sometimes fleshy pod, 

 splitting down one or both, sutures or sometimes indehiscent, or separating 

 into 1-seeded, indehisceint joints. Seeds usually exalbuminous. 



Ohe of the largest fi^milies, consisting of about 500 genera^ and 12,000 

 species, in all parts of the world, 91 genera and about 290 species in 

 the Philippines. 



This vast family is divided into three very natural subfamilies, treated 

 by some authorities as distinct families. They' are the Mimosoideae, with 

 regular flowers, the petals valvate, free or united above the baee, the 

 stamens definite or indefinite; the Caesalpinioideae, with irregular flowers, 

 the petals imbricate, the upper one innermost in bud, sometimes reduced' 

 to 1 or 3, the stamens definite; and the Papilionatae, with very irregular 

 petals, the corolla papilionaceous, that is, butterfly-like,, consisting Of the 

 upper outer petal, the standard, the four others in two opposite pairs 

 called the keel and the wings, the stamens definite, their filaments variously 

 united. All have in common the characteristic fruit known as a pod or 

 legume, which may be dehiscent or indehiscent, dry or fleshy, and 1- to 

 'many-seeded. 



1. Petals valvate; flowers regular A; Mimosoideae 



1. Petals imb^cate; flowers irregular. 

 ■2. Flowers not papilionaceous, the upper petaljnterior. 



B. Caesalpinioideae 

 2. Flowers papilionaceous, the upper petal (standard) exterior. 



C. Papilionatae 

 A. Mimosoideae 



1. Calyx-lobes valva te. 

 2. Stamens usaal'^ numerous, at least mote than twice as many as 

 the {tetals. 



^F.or ia consideration of the knotim Philippine species see Merrill, E. D.-, 

 "An Enumeration of Philippine Leguminosae, with Keys to the Genera 

 and Species." Philip. Joum. Sci. 5 (191(f) Bot. 1-136. 



