




legumes in all parts of the United 
States have been considered in compil- 
ing the list. (Although Mr. Graham's 
original paper included a list of 400 
species, the list here is condensed into 
127, all illustrated, which include most 
of the legumes used in agriculture and 
sold commercially as seed.—Ed.) 
The following pages present informa- 
tion about legumes and their usefulness 
in soil conservation. It is not a nur- 
sery handbook, nor is it a botanical 
manual. For identification the reader 
must refer to manuals covering the re- 
gion in which he is working; conse- 
quently, no keys are included and only 
synoptic facts of botanical description, 
growth, and range are given. 
The Leguminosae, including trees, 
shrubs, and herbs, constitutes a plant 
family of world-wide distribution. The 
flowers vary from regular form, with 
the sepals and petals alike, to a highly 
irregular form in which they assume 
the shape of the typical pea flower, 
with the five petals highly differen- 
tiated. In the pea flower the upper 
petal forms the broad standard or ban- 
ner; the two lateral ones, more or less 
parallel with each other, form the two 
wings; and the lower two are united 
into the keel. By far the greater num- 
ber of species in the family have flowers 
exhibiting some modification of this ir- 
regular form. The arrangement of the 
stamens likewise varies. They are us- 
ually distinct and frequently numerous 


SEED TRADE BUYERS GUIDE wishes to 
gratefully acknowledge its indebtedness 
to Mr. Graham and the U. S. Soil Con- 
servation Service for the text and illus- 
trative material contained in the follow- 
ing pages. More complete information, 
including the listing of 400 different 
legumes may be obtained in Miscellan- 
eous Publication No. 412 by the USDA. 

in the regular flowers, but in the irreg- 
ular blossoms they are usually 10 in 
number, united at the base and clus- 
tered within the keel of the flower. 
Although there are marked differ- 
ences in the flowers, the chief character 
that associates various leguminous 
plants is the type of fruit, the pod or 
legume characteristic of the Legumi- 
nosae. This fruit is developed from a 
simple pistil, and at maturity usually 
splits along two opposite longitudinal 
sutures. Frequently it splits with con- 
siderable force the two halves twisting 
and throwing the seeds some distance. 
The leaves of legumes vary fully as 
much as the flowers, for although usual- 
ly alternate, they may be simple, tri- 
foliolate, palmately or digitately di- 
vided, or variously pinnate. Simply pin- 
nate leaves may have even or odd num- 
bers of leaflets, hence the terms ‘‘even- 
pinnate” and “odd-pinnate.” Odd-pin- 
nate leaves may have the terminal leaf- 
let transformed into a tendril, as in the 
garden pea. Pinnate leaves may be fur- 
ther divided into twice pinnate, or bi- 
pinnate, leaves or still further into 
thrice pinnate, or tripinnate, forms. 
Three subfamilies, distinguished 
largely on the basis of flower differ- 
ences, are recognized in the Legumi- 
nosae. In each of these subfamilies, the 
genera listed in this publication are as 
follows: 
Mimosa subfamily, Mimosoideae 
(small regular or nearly regular flow- 
ers, usually in many-flowered clusters) 
embracing Acacia, Albizzia, Calliandra, 
Desmanthus, Leucaena, Lysiloma, Mi- 
mosa, Neptunia, Pithecellobium, Pro- 
sopis, and Schrankia. 
Cassia or senna subfamily, Caesal- 
pinioideae (large, usually somewhat ir- 
regular flowers, usually not in clusters) 
embracing Cassia, Ceratonia, Cercidium, 
Cercis, Chamaecrista, Gleditsia, Gym- 
nocladus, Hoffmanseggia, Parkinsonia, 
and Poinciana. 
Pea or bean subfamily, Papilionoideae 
(very irregular flowers typical of the 
family, such as the pea flower) embrac- 
ing all other genera. 
The Krameriaceae, which is included 
because it is frequently treated with 
the Leguminosae, differs from that fam- 
ily, among other characters, by the fact 
that the fruits do not split open as do 
legumes. 
The scientific nomenclature employed 
in this publication conforms with the 
International Rules of Botanical No- 
menclature. The only new nomencla- 
ture proposed is the combination Cen- 
trosema arenicolum. 



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BUYERS GUIDE 
25 
