LEGUMINOSAE 
95 
of fruits in the United States, the apple is the most common and exten¬ 
sively cultivated. The crop is about 250 million bushels a year. 
13. CYDONIA Miller. Quince 
Shrub or small tree with simple entire leaves and white or pink flowers. 
Fruit a 5-celled many-seeded pome. (The fruits known to the Romans 
as Mala cydonia, apples from Cydon, now Canea in Crete.) 
1. C. vulgaris Pers. Quince. Shrub or small tree with slender spine¬ 
less branches; leaves oval or oblong, entire, pubescent beneath; fruit 
large, yellow, pyriform or globular.—Cult, from Persia. 
14. AMELANCHIER Medic. Service Berry 
Shrubs with simple leaves and white flowers in racemes. Calyx-tube 
attached to the ovary. Stamens about 20. Ovary 5-celled. Styles 5. 
Fruit a berry-like globose pome, the cells 1-seeded. (Savoy name of the 
medlar.) 
1. A. alnifolia Nutt. June Berry. Shrub 2 to 4 m. high ; leaves ellip¬ 
tic, serrate near the apex; petals broadly oblong or cuneate at base, 10 
mm. long; fruit purplish.—Hillsides, very showy in flower. 
LEGUMINOSAE. PEA FAMILY 
Herbs, shrubs or trees with alternate stipulate leaves, in our species 
commonly compound. Calyx 5-toothed or -cleft or 2-lipped. Corolla with 
5 petals, highly irregular and butterfly-like, the upper petal is called the 
banner, the two lateral petals are the wings, and the two lower petals 
coherent by their edges form the keel. Stamens 10, united into 1 set 
(monadelphous), or 2 sets of 9 and 1 (diadelphous), sometimes distinct. 
Ovary 1-celled, becoming a 2-valved pod or legume. 
This family, with about 7,000 species, is the third largest family of 
flowering plants. It is widely distributed in all continents, especially in 
the temperate and tropical zones, and is of the greatest economic import¬ 
ance on account of the large number of useful plants which it contains. 
For variety of product no other order has so great a claim upon our 
attention. Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Bean) and Pisum sativum L. (Pea) 
produce important foods. Trifolium pratense L. (Red Clover), T. repens 
L. (White Clover), Medicago sativa L. (Alfalfa), Vicia sativa L. 
(Vetch) are invaluable fodder plants. Indigofera tinctoria L. (Indigo) 
is the most important of all vegetable dyes. Acacia Senegal Willd. yields 
Gum Arabic. The bark of Acacia arabica L. is a powerful tonic. Dal- 
bergia latifolia Roxb. is East Indian Rosewood, while Haematoxylon 
campechianum L. is the Logwood,—-both valuable timbers. Thousands 
of other useful plants belong to this family. Probably all the species bear 
nodules on their roots which assist in taking up free nitrogen. 
Flowers regular .:.1. Acacia. 
Flowers more or less irregular. 
Leaves simple ; corolla only slightly irregular. 2. Cercis. 
Leaves compound; corolla strongly irregular. 
Calyx 5-toothed. 
Stamens monadelphous or diadelphous. 
Flowers not in umbels. 
Leaflets more than 3. 
