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ADJACENT TO HORTICULTURAL HALL, 59 
LEGUMINOSZE. Pulse or Bean Family. 
Flowers mostly irregular,—?.e., with a large roundish upper, a scythe-shaped 
smaller lower, and 2 usually unsymmetrical side-petals ; fruit a single, more or 
less 1-sided, continuous or jointed pod; stamens 10, 9 more or less combined 
and 1 free, or all separate; leaves alternate, often compound, leaflets entire ; 
stipules nearly always present. 
A large, widely-diffused, and most important family, furnishing timber, 
fibres, gums, dyes, and other articles of economic value. In it we have peas, 
beans, lentils, kidney-beans, lupins, clover, liquorice, tragacanth, and indigo. 
Among the poisons it produces Cytisus Laburnum, Physostigma venenosum 
(the African Ordeal bean), and in our own country the Sophora speciosa, which 
furnishes an alkaloid that acts in the same manner as the Physostigma does. 
Besides these, there are, in the West, the so-called Loco plants, which year by 
year destroy great numbers of sheep and horses. These are supposed to be 
Oxytropis Lamberti and two or three species of Astraga/lus. 
Albizzia. Has small regular flowers crowded into heads along the stem ; 
pale rose-color; 5 petals united into a funnel-shaped lobed cup, from which 
the long stamens protrude; pod flat and thin; leaves twice pinnate. 
Albizzia Julibrissin, Durazzsin7. SILK-FLOWER, SILK-TREE. (Acacia 
Fulibrissin, Willdenow.) The popular name derived from the long, shining 
tufts of stamens, which give a silky appearance to the tree; leaflets very 
numerous, halved in appearance; pod broadly linear, 5 to 6 inches long, 
contracted between the seeds. Native of Asia, but partly naturalized in the 
Gulf States. 
Amorpha. FAatse INpIGo. Shrubs with leaves composed of many leaf- 
lets; flowers with a single petal (the upper one), which is wrapped around the 
10 nearly separate stamens, clustered in dense spike-like heads. 
* Amorpha canescens, Nuéfa//, LEAD-PLANT. Shrubby at base, I to 
3 feet high, white downy all over; leaves of 10 to 25 pairs of small, oval, 
nearly sessile leaflets; small, late flowers violet purple; pods with a single 
seed. Grows from Michigan southwestward. Its presence is regarded popu- 
larly as an indication of lead. 
Amorpha fruticosa, Zimneus. FALSE INDIGO. Shrub of middle size; 
younger branchlets and leaflets slightly pubescent ; leaves of 5 to 13 pairs of 
oblong (3¢ to 1% inches long) leaflets; flowers early, violet-colored; pods 
generally 2-seeded. Pennsylvania, westward and southward. A. fragrans, 
Sweet, is a variety of the above, and is common in gardens. 
* Amorpha herbacea, Walter. Shrub 2 to 4 feet high; branches red or 
purple; leaves of 15 to 35 smallish-dotted leaflets; pod 1-seeded ; flowers white 
or blue. Native of pine barrens from Florida to North Carolina. 
Caragana. PrA-TrEE. Flower’ irregular; stamens 10, of these g are 
united at base and 1 is free; pod linear, several-seeded ; leaves clustered, of 
several pairs of leaflets (instead of the end leaflet there is frequently a minute 
spiny point); flowers on short stalks, not more than 3 together; lower petal 
(keel) nearly straight. 
