PEA FAMILY 



used it wherever a quick-growing vine was needed in their land- 

 scape gardening. To us Kudzu is merely an ornamental plant, ■ 

 but in Japan its roots are used for food; from the bast a thread is 

 made; while the dried leaves and stems are food for cattle. 



Wistaria, Wist&ria chinensis, one of the best and commonest 

 of hardy climbers, is a strong grower, long-lived and healthy. 

 The foliage is pinnate and not suflBciently dense to afford a per- 

 fect screen, but is airy and graceful. The flowers appear in long, 

 drooping racemes of purplish pea-shaped blossoms. These rac- 

 emes are often a foot in length. 



The Chinese Wistaria was introduced into 

 England in 1816, and in 1840 there was a 

 specimen recorded with branches attaining a 

 hundred feet on each side of the main stem and 

 another covering nearly a thousand square feet 

 of wall space. 



The Wistaria used by the Japanese, which 

 figures so largely in their decorations, is Wistaria 

 muUifuga, which with us is often called sinen- 

 sis; its clusters sometimies attain the length of 

 three or four feet. This is not regarded as suffi- 

 ciently hardy to become a favorite. 



The Soy Bean, Glycine hispida, and the Cow 

 Pea, Vigna sinensis, both Chinese plants, are 

 widely grown as forage plants. 



Alfalfa, Medicago satlva, is the deep-rooted forage plant of 

 Europe so extensively grown in the arid regions of the United 

 States. It grows about two feet high, bears pinnate leaves and 

 small racemes of small, violet-purple, clover-shaped flowers. 



Cassia, Cdssia floribUnda, is a free-flowering plant with large 

 orange-yellow flowers. It can be wintered in a dormant condition 

 in a cellar or similar place where not exposed to severe frost, and 

 planted in the spring. It will bloom throughout the summer 

 and fall, producing the most dazzling effects by its profuse and 

 brilliant bloom. 

 The Peanut or Goober, A rcichis kypogma, from South America, 



2S4 



Alfalfa. Medic&go 

 " saliva 



