380 E. C. ANDREWS. 
The Papilionaceze present the most noticeable peculi- — 
arities in the order in this connection. Certain species of 
Sophora, Dalbergia, Barklya, Crotalaria and other genera, 
possess simple leaves in the adult stage; nevertheless the 
characteristic leaf of the Papilionacez is pinnate, trifolio- 
late, digitate or verticillate. In the seedling stage many 
genera of this family show simple leaves. Especially is 
this noticeable in Podalyrieze, Sophores, Dalbergieze and 
Genisteze. The seedling leaves of the French bean are 
interesting in this connection as being well known to every- 
one. The cotyledons themselves are thick and aerial, the 
first two leaves are simple and opposite, while the succeed- 
ing pairs are opposite and pinnately-trifoliolate. 
The stamens of Papilionaceze are also interesting. 
Sophorez, with its offshoot Podalyriez, has free stamens; 
but the remaining tribes possess stamens which are either 
monadelphous or diadelphous. In this connection the follow- 
ing notes by Bentham are of considerable interest: ‘‘In 
the staminal tube of monadelphous Leguminose at an early 
age the stamens are usually all quite free and distinct in a 
circle round the pistil, and they afterwards become mona- 
delphous not by the union of any portion once free, but by 
the growth of a ring or tube under them, raising them 
above the receptacle.’’* 
Combining these various lines of evidence it would appear 
that the home of the Leguminosz was in the fertile tropics, 
and that its ancestral forms were trees, shrubs, under- 
shrubs, and climbers of luxuriant habit. Leaves alternate, 
stipulate, mainly simple, in some cases digitate or trifolio- 
late, more rarely simply pinnate and possessing more than 
three leaflets. Corolla regular, the petals overlapping ; 
petals five, rarely four. Stamens free, as many or twice 
as many as petals, rarely indefinite. Style of one carpel, 
1 Myrtacee, Journ. Linn. Soc., Lond. Botany, Vol. x, 1869, p. 109. 
