CHAPTER XIII 

 THE LEGUMES IN GENERAL 



The Leguminosse family is one of tlie most interesting 

 of the great group of flowering plants. The family is a 

 very large one, containing over 10,000 species, which have 

 been grouped into 487 genera. Members of this family 

 may be found growing in all parts of the world where 

 flowering plants exist. They are to be found in the hottest 

 parts of the tropics and in the cold climates of the North. 

 They vary in size from the tiny plants that grow unnoticed 

 by the wayside, to the giant trees of the forest. The most 

 prominent trees that belong to this family are the locust, 

 mahogany, and Kentucky coffee tree. About one-fourth 

 of the members of the Leguminosse family are woody 

 plants, most of which grow in the tropics. The remainder 

 are herbaceous and are more widely spread over the world. 

 Botanists have divided the members of this family into 

 three sub-families, namely, Csesalpineae, Mimoseae, and 

 Papilionaceae. The species included in the first two 

 groups are almost entirely tropical and hold little of 

 importance for the agriculturalist; the Papilionaceae, 

 however, includes some of the most important and useful 

 plants that engage the attention of the farmer. 



240. Description. — The Papilionaceae, or pea family, 

 as it is sometimes called, usually regarded not as a fam- 

 ily, but as a sub-family of the Leguminosse, is so named 

 because of the resemblance of the flowers of this group 



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