LEGIIIIINO'SE (fabacem of Lindley), a great natural order of exogenous plants, con taining herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees, many of them of the greatest magnitude. The leaves are alternate, usually compound, and have two stipules at the base of the leaf-stalk, which often soon fall off. The inflorescence is various. The calyx is inferior, 5-parted, toothed or cleft, the segments oaten unequal. The petals are 5, or, by abor tion, fewer, inserted into the base of the calyx, usually unequal, often papilionaceous (q.v.). The stamens are few or many, distinct or variously united. The ovary is 1-celled, generally of a single carpel; the style simple. proceeding* from the upper mar gin, the stigma simple. The fruit is either a legume (q.v.) or a drupe (q.v.). The seeds are solitary or numerous, occasionally with an aril, often curved; the cotyledons very large.—There are three suborders: 1. Papitionacca, with papilionaceous flowers; 2. am/pi/me. with irregular flowers and spreading petals; 3. with small regular
flowers.—This natural order contains almost 7.000 known species, of which about 5,000 belong to the sub-order papilionacem. They are spread over all parts of the world, from the equator to the poles, but their number is greatest in tropical and sub-tropical regions. They are applied to a great variety of purposes, and some of them are of great impor tance in domestic economy,•the arts, medicine. etc. To this order belong the bean, pea, kidney-bean. and all kinds of pulse; clover, liquorice, broom, laburnum, lupine, senna, and many other medicinal plants; tamarind. logwoocl, indigo. and many others which afford dyes, etc.; the acacias, mimosas, etc. Many species are interesting on account of their beauty of form, foliage, or flowers. In the seeds of many is found a nitrogenous substance called legumine (q.v.) or vegetable caseine.