LEGITIM,orBairn’s Part, in Scots law, the legal share of the movable property of a father due on his death to his children. If a father dies leaving a widow and children, the movable property is divided into three equal parts; one-third part is divided equally among all the children who survive, although they may be of different marriages (the issue of predeceased children do not share); another third goes to the widow as herjus relictae, and the remaining third, called “dead’s part,” may be disposed of by the father by will as he pleases. If the father die intestate the dead’s part goes to the children as next of kin. Should the father leave no widow, one-half of the movable estate is legitim and one-half dead’s part. In claiming legitim, however, credit must be given for any advance made by the father out of his movable estate during his lifetime.
LEGITIMACY,andLEGITIMATION,the status derived by individuals in consequence of being born in legal wedlock, and the means by which the same status is given to persons not so born. Under the Roman or civil law a child born before the marriage of the parents was made legitimate by their subsequent marriage. This method of legitimation was accepted by the canon law, by the legal systems of the continent of Europe, of Scotland and of some of the states of the United States. The early Germanic codes, however, did not recognize such legitimation, nor among the Anglo-Saxons had the natural-born child any rights of inheritance, or possibly any right other than that of protection, even when acknowledged by its father. The principle of the civil and canon law was at one time advocated by the clergy of England, but was summarily rejected by the barons at the parliament of Merton in 1236, when they repliedNolumus leges Angliae mutare.
English law takes account solely of the fact that marriage precedes the birth of the child; at whatever period the birth happens after the marriage, the offspring is prima facie legitimate. The presumption of law is always in favour of the legitimacy of the child of a married woman, and at one time it was so strong that Sir Edward Coke held that “if the husband be within the four seas,i.e.within the jurisdiction of the king of England, and the wife hath issue, no proof shall be admitted to prove the child a bastard unless the husband hath an apparent impossibility of procreation.” It is now settled, however, that the presumption of legitimacy may be rebutted by evidence showing non-access on the part of the husband, or any other circumstance showing that the husband could not in the course of nature have been the father of his wife’s child. If the husband had access, or the access be not clearly negatived, even though others at the same time were carrying on an illicit intercourse with the wife, a child born under such circumstances is legitimate. If the husband had access intercourse must be presumed, unless there is irresistible evidence to the contrary. Neither husband or wife will be permitted to prove the non-access directly or indirectly. Children born after a divorcea mensa et thorowill, however, be presumed to be bastards unless access be proved. A child born so long after the death of a husband that he could not in the ordinary course of nature have been the father is illegitimate. The period of gestation is presumed to beaboutnine calendar months; and if there were any circumstances from which an unusually long or short period of gestation could be inferred, special medical testimony would be required.
A marriage between persons within the prohibited degrees of affinity was before 1835 not void, but only voidable, and the ecclesiastical courts were restrained from bastardizing the issue after the death of either of the parents. LordLyndhurst’s act (1835) declared all such existing marriages valid, but all subsequent marriages between persons within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity were made null and void and the issue illegitimate (seeMarriage). By the Legitimacy Declaration Act 1858, application may be made to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Court (in Scotland, to the Court of Session by action of declarator) for a declaration of legitimacy and of the validity of a marriage. The status of legitimacy in any country depending upon the fact of the child having been born in wedlock, it may be concluded that any question as to the legitimacy of a child turns either on the validity of the marriage or on whether the child has been born in wedlock.
Legitimationeffected by the subsequent marriage of the parents of the illegitimate child is technically known as legitimationper subsequens matrimonium. This adoption of the Roman law principle is followed by most of the states of the continent of Europe (with distinctions, of course, as tocertainillegitimate children, or as to the forms of acknowledgment by the parent or parents), in the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Lower Canada, St Lucia, Trinidad, Demerara, Berbice, Cape Colony, Ceylon, Mauritius; it has been adopted in New Zealand (Legitimation Act 1894), South Australia (Legitimation Act 1898, amended 1902), Queensland (Legitimation Act 1899), New South Wales (Legitimation Act 1902), and Victoria (Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1903). It is to be noted, however, that in these states the mere fact of the parents marrying does not legitimate the child; indeed, the parents may marry, yet the child remain illegitimate. In order to legitimate the child it is necessary for the father to make application for its registration; in South Australia, the application must be made by both parents; so also in Victoria, if the mother is living, if not, application by the father will suffice. In New Zealand, Queensland and New South Wales, registration may be made at any time after the marriage; in Victoria, within six months from the date of the marriage; in South Australia, by the act of 1898, registration was permissible only within thirty days before or after the marriage, but by the amending act of 1902 it is allowed at any time more than thirty days after the marriage, provided the applicants prove before a magistrate that they are the parents of the child. In all cases the legitimation is retrospective, taking effect from the birth of the child. Legitimation by subsequent marriage exists also in the following states of the American Union: Maine, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, N. and S. Dakota, Idaho, Montana and New Mexico. In Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arizona, in addition to the marriage the father must recognize or acknowledge the illegitimate child as his. In New Hampshire, Connecticut and Louisiana both parents must acknowledge the child, either by an authentic act before marriage or by the contract of marriage. In some states (California, Nevada, N. and S. Dakota and Idaho) if the father of an illegitimate child receives it into his house (with the consent of his wife, if married), and treats it as if it were legitimate, it becomes legitimate for all purposes. In other states (N. Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and New Mexico) the putative father can legitimize the child by process in court. Those states of the United States which have not been mentioned follow the English common law, which also prevails in Ireland, some of the West Indies and part of Canada. In Scotland, on the other hand, the principle of the civil law is followed. In Scotland, bastards could be legitimized in two ways: either by the subsequent intermarriage of the mother of the child with the father, or by letters of legitimation from the sovereign. With respect to the last, however, it is to be observed that letters of legitimation, be their clauses ever so strong, could not enable the bastard to succeed to his natural father; for the sovereign could not, by any prerogative, cut off the private right of third parties. But by a special clause in the letters of legitimation, the sovereign could renounce his right to the bastard’s succession, failing legitimate descendants, in favour of him who would have been the bastard’s heir had he been born in lawful wedlock, such renunciation encroaching upon no right competent to any third person.
The question remains, how far, if at all, English law recognizes the legitimacy of a person born out of wedlock. Strictly speaking, English law does not recognize any such person as legitimate (though the supreme power of an act of parliament can, of course, confer the rights of legitimacy), but under certain circumstances it will recognize, for purposes of succession to property, a legitimated person as legitimate. The general maxim of law is that the status of legitimacy must be tried by the law of the country where it originates, and where the law of the father’s domicile at the time of the child’s birth, and of the father’s domicile at the time of the subsequent marriage, taken together, legitimize the child, English law will recognize the legitimacy. For purposes of succession to real property, however, legitimacy must be determined by thelex loci rei sitae; so that, for example, a legitimized Scotsman would be recognized as legitimate in England, but not legitimate so far as to take lands as heir (Birtwhistlev.Vardill, 1840). The conflict of laws on the subject yields some curious results. Thus, a domiciled Scotsman had a son born in Scotland and then married the mother in Scotland. The son died possessed of land in England, and it was held that the father could not inherit from the son. On the other hand, where an unmarried woman, domiciled in England died intestate there, it was held that her brother’s daughter, born before marriage, but whilst the father was domiciled in Holland, and legitimized by the parents’ marriage while they were still domiciled in Holland, was entitled to succeed to the personal property of her aunt (In re Goodman’s Trusts, 1880).In re Grey’s Trusts(1892) decided that, wherereal estatewas bequeathed to the children of a person domiciled in a foreign country and these children were legitimized by the subsequent marriage in that country of their father with their mother, that they were entitled to share as legitimate children in a devise of English realty. It is to be noted that this decision does not clash with that ofBirtwhistlev.Vardill.
See J. A. Foote,Private International Law; A. V. Dicey,Conflict of Laws; L. von Bar,Private International Law; Story,Conflict of Laws; J. Westlake,International Law.
See J. A. Foote,Private International Law; A. V. Dicey,Conflict of Laws; L. von Bar,Private International Law; Story,Conflict of Laws; J. Westlake,International Law.
LEGITIMISTS(Fr.légitimistes, fromlégitime, lawful, legitimate), the name of the party in France which after the revolution of 1830 continued to support the claims of the elder line of the house of Bourbon as the legitimate sovereigns “by divine right.” The death of the comte de Chambord in 1883 dissolved theparti légitimiste, only an insignificant remnant, known as theBlancs d’Espagne, repudiating the act of renunciation of Philip V. of Spain and upholding the rights of the Bourbons of the line of Anjou. The wordlégitimistewas not admitted by the French Academy until 1878; but meanwhile it had spread beyond France, and the English word legitimist is now applied to any supporter of monarchy by hereditary right as against a parliamentary or other title.
LEGNAGO,a fortified town of Venetia, Italy, in the province of Verona, on the Adige, 29 m. by rail E. of Mantua, 52 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1906) 2731 (town), 17,000 (commune). Legnago is one of the famous Quadrilateral fortresses. The present fortifications were planned and made in 1815, the older defences having been destroyed by Napoleon I. in 1801. The situation is low and unhealthy, but the territory is fertile, rice, cereals and sugar being grown. Legnago is the birthplace of G. B. Cavalcaselle, the art historian (1827-1897). A branch line runs hence to Rovigo.
LEGNANO,a town of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Milan, 17 m. N.W. of that city by rail, 682 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1881) 7153, (1901) 18,285. The church of S. Magno, built in the style of Bramante by G. Lampugnano (1504-1529), contains an altar-piece considered one of Luini’s best works. There are also remains of a castle of the Visconti. Legnano is the seat of important cotton and silk industries, withmachine-shops, boiler-works, and dyeing and printing of woven goods, and thread. Close by, the Lombard League defeated Frederick Barbarossa in 1176; a monument in commemoration of the battle was erected on the field in 1876, while there is another by Butti erected in 1900 in the Piazza Federico Barbarossa.
LEGOUVÉ, GABRIEL JEAN BAPTISTE ERNEST WILFRID(1807-1903), French dramatist, son of the poet Gabriel Legouvé (1764-1812), who wrote a pastoralLa Mort d’Abel(1793) and a tragedy ofEpicharis et Néron, was born in Paris on the 5th of February 1807. His mother died in 1810, and almost immediately afterwards his father was removed to a lunatic asylum. The child, however, inherited a considerable fortune, and was carefully educated. Jean Nicolas Bouilly (1763-1842) was his tutor, and early instilled into the young Legouvé a passion for literature, to which the example of his father and of his grandfather, J. B. Legouvé (1729-1783), predisposed him. As early as 1829 he carried away a prize of the French Academy for a poem on the discovery of printing; and in 1832 he published a curious little volume of verses, entitledLes Morts Bizarres. In those early days Legouvé brought out a succession of novels, of whichEdith de Falsenenjoyed a considerable success. In 1847 he began the work by which he is best remembered, his contributions to the development and education of the female mind, by lecturing at the College of France on the moral history of women: these discourses were collected into a volume in 1848, and enjoyed a great success. Legouvé wrote considerably for the stage, and in 1849 he collaborated with A. E. Scribe inAdrienne Lecouvreur. In 1855 he brought out his tragedy ofMédée, the success of which had much to do with his election to the French Academy. He succeeded to the fauteuil of J. A. Ancelot, and was received by Flourens, who dwelt on the plays of Legouvé as his principal claim to consideration. As time passed on, however, he became less prominent as a playwright, and more so as a lecturer and propagandist on woman’s rights and the advanced education of children, in both of which directions he was a pioneer in French society. HisLa Femme en France au XIX^mesiècle(1864), reissued, much enlarged, in 1878; hisMessieurs les enfants(1868), hisConférences Parisiennes(1872), hisNos filles et nos fils(1877), and hisUne Éducation de jeune fille(1884) were works of wide-reaching influence in the moral order. In 1886-1887 he published, in two volumes, hisSoixante ans de souvenirs, an excellent specimen of autobiography. He was raised in 1887 to the highest grade of the Legion of Honour, and held for many years the post of inspector-general of female education in the national schools. Legouvé was always an advocate of physical training. He was long accounted one of the best shots in France, and although, from a conscientious objection, he never fought a duel, he made the art of fencing his life-long hobby. After the death of Désiré Nisard in 1888, Legouvé became the “father” of the French Academy. He died on the 14th of March 1903.
LEGROS, ALPHONSE(1837- ), painter and etcher, was born at Dijon on the 8th of May 1837. His father was an accountant, and came from the neighbouring village of Veronnes. Young Legros frequently visited the farms of his relatives, and the peasants and landscapes of that part of France are the subjects of many of his pictures and etchings. He was sent to the art school at Dijon with a view to qualifying for a trade, and was apprenticed to Maître Nicolardo, house decorator and painter of images. In 1851 Legros left for Paris to take another situation; but passing through Lyons he worked for six months as journeyman wall-painter under the decorator Beuchot, who was painting the chapel of Cardinal Bonald in the cathedral. In Paris he studied with Cambon, scene-painter and decorator of theatres, an experience which developed a breadth of touch such as Stanfield and Cox picked up in similar circumstances. At this time he attended the drawing-school of Lecoq de Boisbaudran. In 1855 Legros attended the evening classes of the École des Beaux Arts, and perhaps gained there his love of drawing from the antique, some of the results of which may be seen in the Print Room of the British Museum. He sent two portraits to the Salon of 1857: one was rejected, and formed part of the exhibition of protest organized by Bonvin in his studio; the other, which was accepted, was a profile portrait of his father. This work was presented to the museum at Tours by the artist when his friend Cazin was curator. Champfleury saw the work in the Salon, and sought out the artist to enlist him in the small army of so-called “Realists,” comprising (round the noisy glory of Courbet) all those who raised protest against the academical trifles of the degenerate Romantics. In 1859 Legros’s “Angelus” was exhibited, the first of those quiet church interiors, with kneeling figures of patient women, by which he is best known as a painter. “Ex Voto,” a work of great power and insight, painted in 1861, now in the museum at Dijon, was received by his friends with enthusiasm, but it only obtained a mention at the Salon. Legros came to England in 1863, and in 1864 married Miss Frances Rosetta Hodgson. At first he lived by his etching and teaching. He then became teacher of etching at the South Kensington School of Art, and in 1876 Slade Professor at University College, London. He was naturalized as an Englishman in 1881, and remained at University College seventeen years. His influence there was exerted to encourage a certain distinction, severity and truth of character in the work of his pupils, with a simple technique and a respect for the traditions of the old masters, until then somewhat foreign to English art. He would draw or paint a torso or a head before the students in an hour or even less, so that the attention of the pupils might not be dulled. As students had been known to take weeks and even months over a single drawing, Legros ordered the positions of the casts in the Antique School to be changed once every week. In the painting school he insisted upon a good outline, preserved by a thin rub in of umber, and then the work was to be finished in a single painting, “premier coup.” Experiments in all varieties of art work were practised; whenever the professor saw a fine example in the museum, or when a process interested him in a workshop, he never rested until he had mastered the technique and his students were trying their ’prentice hands at it. As he had casually picked up the art of etching by watching a comrade in Paris working at a commercial engraving, so he began the making of medals after a walk in the British Museum, studying the masterpieces of Pisanello, and a visit to the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris. Legros considered the traditional journey to Italy a very important part of artistic training, and in order that his students should have the benefit of such study he devoted a part of his salary to augment the income available for a travelling studentship. His later works, after he resigned his professorship in 1892, were more in the free and ardent manner of his early days—imaginative landscapes, castles in Spain, and farms in Burgundy, etchings like the series of “The Triumph of Death,” and the sculptured fountains for the gardens of the duke of Portland at Welbeck.
Pictures and drawings by Legros, besides those already mentioned, may be seen in the following galleries and museums: “Amende Honorable,” “Dead Christ,” bronzes, medals and twenty-two drawings, in the Luxembourg, Paris; “Landscape,” “Study of a Head,” and portraits of Browning, Burne-Jones, Cassel, Huxley and Marshall, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington; “Femmes en prière,” National Gallery of British Art; “The Tinker,” and six other works from the Ionides Collection, bequeathed to South Kensington; “Christening,” “Barricade,” “The Poor at Meat,” two portraits and several drawings and etchings, collection of Lord Carlisle; “Two Priests at the Organ,” “Landscape” and etchings, collection of Rev. Stopford Brooke; “Head of a Priest,” collection of Mr Vereker Hamilton; “The Weed-burner,” some sculpture and a large collection of etchings and drawings, Mr Guy Knowles; “Psyche,” collection of Mr L. W. Hodson; “Snow Scene,” collection of Mr G. F. Watts, R.A.; thirty-five drawings and etchings, the Print Room, British Museum; “Jacob’s Dream” and twelve drawings of the antique, Cambridge; “Saint Jerome,” two studies of heads and some drawings, Manchester; “The Pilgrimage” and “Study made before the Class,” Liverpool Walker Art Gallery; “Study of Heads,” Peel Park Museum, Salford.See Dr Hans W. Singer, “Alphonse Legros,”Die graphischen Künste(1898); Léonce Bénédite, “Alphonse Legros,”Revue de l’art(Paris, 1900); Cosmo Monkhouse, “Professor Legros,”Magazine of Art(1882).
Pictures and drawings by Legros, besides those already mentioned, may be seen in the following galleries and museums: “Amende Honorable,” “Dead Christ,” bronzes, medals and twenty-two drawings, in the Luxembourg, Paris; “Landscape,” “Study of a Head,” and portraits of Browning, Burne-Jones, Cassel, Huxley and Marshall, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington; “Femmes en prière,” National Gallery of British Art; “The Tinker,” and six other works from the Ionides Collection, bequeathed to South Kensington; “Christening,” “Barricade,” “The Poor at Meat,” two portraits and several drawings and etchings, collection of Lord Carlisle; “Two Priests at the Organ,” “Landscape” and etchings, collection of Rev. Stopford Brooke; “Head of a Priest,” collection of Mr Vereker Hamilton; “The Weed-burner,” some sculpture and a large collection of etchings and drawings, Mr Guy Knowles; “Psyche,” collection of Mr L. W. Hodson; “Snow Scene,” collection of Mr G. F. Watts, R.A.; thirty-five drawings and etchings, the Print Room, British Museum; “Jacob’s Dream” and twelve drawings of the antique, Cambridge; “Saint Jerome,” two studies of heads and some drawings, Manchester; “The Pilgrimage” and “Study made before the Class,” Liverpool Walker Art Gallery; “Study of Heads,” Peel Park Museum, Salford.
See Dr Hans W. Singer, “Alphonse Legros,”Die graphischen Künste(1898); Léonce Bénédite, “Alphonse Legros,”Revue de l’art(Paris, 1900); Cosmo Monkhouse, “Professor Legros,”Magazine of Art(1882).
(C. H.*)
LEGUMINOSAE,the second largest family of seed-plants, containing about 430 genera with 7000 species. It belongs to the series Rosales of the Dicotyledons, and contains three well-marked suborders, Papilionatae, Mimosoideae and Caesalpinioideae. The plants are trees, shrubs or herbs of very various habit. The British representatives, all of which belong to the suborder Papilionatae, include a few shrubs, such asUlex(gorse, furze),Cytisus(broom) andGenista, but the majority, and this applies to the suborder as a whole, are herbs, such as the clovers,Medicago,Melilotus, &c., sometimes climbing by aid of tendrils which are modified leaf-structures, as inLathyrusand the vetches (Vicia). Scarlet runner (Phaseolus multiflorus) has a herbaceous twining stem. Woody climbers (lianes) are represented by species ofBauhinia(Caesalpinioideae), which with their curiously flattened twisted stems are characteristic features of tropical forests, andEntada scandens(Mimosoideae) also common in the tropics; these two suborders, which are confined to the warmer parts of the earth, consist chiefly of trees and shrubs such asAcaciaandMimosabelonging to the Mimosoideae, and the Judas tree of southern Europe (Cercis) and tamarind belonging to the Caesalpinioideae. The so-called acacia of European gardens (Robinia Pseudacacia) and laburnum are examples of the tree habit in the Papilionatae. Water plants are rare, but are represented byAeschynomeneandNeptunia, tropical genera. The roots of many species bear nodular swellings (tubercles), the cells of which contain bacterium-like bodies which have the power of fixing the nitrogen of the atmosphere in such a form as to make it available for plant food. Hence the value of these plants as a crop on poor soil or as a member of a series of rotation of crops, since they enrich the soil by the nitrogen liberated by the decay of their roots or of the whole plant if ploughed in as green manure.
The leaves are alternate in arrangement and generally compound and stipulate. A common form is illustrated by the trefoil or clovers, which have three leaflets springing from a common point (digitately trifoliate); pinnate leaves are also frequent as in laburnum andRobinia. In Mimosoideae the leaves are generally bipinnate (figs. 1, 2, 3). Rarely are the leaves simple as inBauhinia. Various departures from the usual leaf-type occur in association with adaptations to different functions or environments. In leaf-climbers, such as pea or vetch, the end of the rachis and one or more pairs of leaflets are changed into tendrils. In gorse the leaf is reduced to a slender spine-like structure, though the leaves of the seedling have one to three leaflets. In many Australian acacias the leaf surface in the adult plant is much reduced, the petiole being at the same time flattened and enlarged (fig. 1), frequently the leaf is reduced to a petiole flattened in the vertical plane; by this means a minimum surface is exposed to the intense sunlight. In the garden pea the stipules are large and foliaceous, replacing the leaflets, which are tendrils; inRobiniathe stipules are spiny and persist after leaf-fall. In some acacias (q.v.) the thorns are hollow, and inhabited by ants as inA. sphaerocephala, a central American plant (fig. 2) and others. In some species ofAstragalus,Onobrychisand others, the leaf-stalk persists after the fall of the leaf and becomes hard and spiny.
I, Leaf and part of stem;D, hollow thorns in which the ants live;F, food bodies at the apices of the lower pinnules;N, nectary on the petiole. (Reduced.)
II, Single pinnule with food-body,F. (Somewhat enlarged.)
Leaf-movements occur in many of the genera. Such are the sleep-movement in the clovers, runner bean (Phaseolus),Robiniaand acacia, where the leaflets assume a vertical position at nightfall. Spontaneous movements are exemplified in the telegraph-plant (Desmodium gyrans), native of tropical Asia, where the small lateral leaflets move up and down every few minutes. The sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) is an example of movement in response to contact, the leaves assuming a sleep-position if touched. The seat of the movement is the swollen base of the leaf-stalk, the so-called pulvinus (fig. 3).Fig. 3.—Branch with two leaves of the Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica), showing the petiole in its erect state,a, and in its depressed state,b; also the leaflets closed,c, and the leaflets expanded,d;p, pulvinus, the seat of the movement of the petiole.The stem of the lianes shows some remarkable deviations from the normal in form and structure. In Papilionatae anomalous secondary thickening arises from the production of new cambium zones outside the original ring (Mucuna,Wistaria) forming concentric rings or transverse or broader strands; where, as inRhyncosiathe successive cambiums are active only at two opposite points, a flat ribbon-like stem is produced. The climbingBauhinias(Caesalpinioideae) have a flattened stem with basin-like undulations; in some growth in thickness is normal, in others new cambium-zones are found concentrically, while in others new and distinct growth-centres, each with its cambium-zone, arise outside the primary zone. The climbing Mimosoideae show no anomalous growth in thickness, but in some cases the stem becomes strongly winged. Gum passages in the pith and medullary rays occur, especially in species of acacia andAstragalus; gum-arabic is an exudation from the branches ofAcacia Senegal, gum-tragacanth fromAstragalus gummiferand other species. Logwood is the coloured heartwood ofHaematoxylon campechianum; red sandalwood ofPterocarpus santalinus.
Leaf-movements occur in many of the genera. Such are the sleep-movement in the clovers, runner bean (Phaseolus),Robiniaand acacia, where the leaflets assume a vertical position at nightfall. Spontaneous movements are exemplified in the telegraph-plant (Desmodium gyrans), native of tropical Asia, where the small lateral leaflets move up and down every few minutes. The sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) is an example of movement in response to contact, the leaves assuming a sleep-position if touched. The seat of the movement is the swollen base of the leaf-stalk, the so-called pulvinus (fig. 3).
The stem of the lianes shows some remarkable deviations from the normal in form and structure. In Papilionatae anomalous secondary thickening arises from the production of new cambium zones outside the original ring (Mucuna,Wistaria) forming concentric rings or transverse or broader strands; where, as inRhyncosiathe successive cambiums are active only at two opposite points, a flat ribbon-like stem is produced. The climbingBauhinias(Caesalpinioideae) have a flattened stem with basin-like undulations; in some growth in thickness is normal, in others new cambium-zones are found concentrically, while in others new and distinct growth-centres, each with its cambium-zone, arise outside the primary zone. The climbing Mimosoideae show no anomalous growth in thickness, but in some cases the stem becomes strongly winged. Gum passages in the pith and medullary rays occur, especially in species of acacia andAstragalus; gum-arabic is an exudation from the branches ofAcacia Senegal, gum-tragacanth fromAstragalus gummiferand other species. Logwood is the coloured heartwood ofHaematoxylon campechianum; red sandalwood ofPterocarpus santalinus.
The flowers are arranged in racemose inflorescences, such as the simple raceme (Laburnum,Robinia), which is condensed to a head inTrifolium; inAcaciaandMimosathe flowers are densely crowded (fig. 4). The flower is characterized by a hypogynous or slightly perigynous arrangement of parts, the anterior position of the odd sepal, the free petals, and the single median carpel with a terminal style, simple stigma and twoalternating rows of ovules on the ventral suture of the ovary which faces the back of the flower.
1, Part of stem with leaf and its subtended inflorescence, about natural size.
2, Flower, much enlarged.
3, Floral diagram ofAcacia latifolia. (After Eichler.)
The arrangement of the petals and the number and cohesion of the stamens vary in the three suborders. In Mimosoideae, the smallest of the three, the flower is regular (fig. 4 [3]), and the sepals and petals have a valvate aestivation, and are generally pentamerous, but 3-6-merous flowers also occur. The sepals are more or less united into a cup (fig. 4 [2]), and the petals sometimes cohere at the base. The stamens vary widely in number and cohesion; inAcacia(fig. 4) they are indefinite and free, in the tribeIngeae, indefinite and monadelphous, in other tribes as many or twice as many as the petals. Frequently, as inMimosa, the long yellow stamens are the most conspicuous feature of the flower. In Caesalpinioideae (fig. 5) the flowers are zygomorphic in a median plane and generally pentamerous. The sepals are free, or the two upper ones united as in tamarind, and imbricate in aestivation, rarely as in the Judas-tree (fig. 5 [2]), valvate. The corolla shows great variety in form; it is imbricate in aestivation, the posterior petal being innermost. InCercis(fig. 5) it clearly resembles the papilionaceous type; the odd petal stands erect, the median pair are reflexed and wing-like, and the lower pair enclose the essential organs. InCassiaall five petals are subequal and spreading; inAmherstiathe anterior pair are small or absent while the three upper ones are large; inKrameria, the anterior pair are represented by glandular scales, and inTamarindusare suppressed. Apetalous flowers occur inCopaiferaandCeratonia. The stamens, generally ten in number, are free, as inCercis(fig. 5) or more or less united as inAmherstia, where the posterior one is free and the rest are united. In tamarind only three stamens are fertile. The largest suborder, Papilionatae, has a flower zygomorphic in the median plane (figs. 6, 7). The five sepals are generally united (figs. 7, 9), and have an ascending imbricate arrangement (fig. 6); the calyx is often two-lipped (fig. 9 [1]). The corolla has five unequal petals with a descending imbricate arrangement; the upper and largest, the standard (vexillum), stands erect, the lateral pair, the wings oralae, are long-clawed, while the anterior pair cohere to form the keel orcarina, in which are enclosed the stamens and pistil. The ten stamens are monadelphous as in gorse or broom (fig. 9), or diadelphous as in sweet pea (fig. 8) (the posterior one being free), or almost or quite free; these differences are associated with differences in the methods of pollination. The ten stamens here, as in the last suborder, though arranged in a single whorl, arise in two series, the five opposite the sepals arising first.The carpel is sometimes stalked and often surrounded at the base by a honey-secreting disk; the style is terminal and in the zygomorphic flowers is often curved and somewhat flattened with a definite back and front. Sometimes as in species ofTrifoliumandMedicagothe ovules are reduced to one. The pod or legume splits along both sutures (fig. 10) into a pair of membranous, leathery or sometimes fleshy valves, bearing the seeds on the ventral suture. Dehiscence is often explosive, the valves separating elastically and twisting spirally, thus shooting out the seeds, as in gorse, broom and others. InDesmodium,Entadaand others the pod is constricted between each seed, and breaks up into indehiscent one-seeded parts; it is then called a lomentum (fig. 11); inAstragalusit is divided by a longitudinal septum.Fig. 5.—Flowering branch of Judas-tree (Cercis siliquastrum) reduced. 1, Flower, natural size. 2, Floral diagram.Fig. 6.—Diagram of Flower of Sweet Pea (Lathyrus), showing five sepals,s, two are superior, one inferior, and two lateral; five petals,p, one superior, two inferior, and two lateral; ten stamens in two rows,a, and one carpel,c.Fig. 7.—Flower of Pea (Pisum sativum), showing a papilionaceous corolla, with one petal superior,st, the standard (vexillum), two inferior,car, the keel (carina), and two lateral,a, wings (alae). The calyx is markedc.The pods show a very great variety in form and size. Thus in the clovers they are a small fraction of an inch, while in the common tropical climberEntada scandensthey are woody structures more than a yard long and several inches wide. They are generally more or less flattened, but sometimes round and rod-like, as in species ofCassia, or are spirally coiled as inMedicago. Indehiscent one-seeded pods occur in species of clover and inMedicago, also inDalbergiaand allied genera, where they are winged. InColutea, the bladder-senna of gardens, the pod forms an inflated bladder which bursts under pressure; it often becomes detached and is blown some distance before bursting. An arillar outgrowth is often developed on the funicle, and is sometimes brightly coloured, rendering the seed conspicuous and favouring dissemination by birds; in such cases the seed-coat is hard. In other cases the hard seed-coat itself is bright-coloured as in the scarlet seeds ofAbrus precatorius, the so-called weather-plant. Animals also act as the agents of distribution in the case of fleshy edible pods containing seeds with a hard smooth testa, which will pass uninjured through the body, as in tamarind and the fruit of the carob-tree (Ceratonia). In the ground-nut (Arachis hypogaea),Trifolium subterraneumand others, the flower-stalks grow downwards after fertilization of the ovules and bury the fruit in the earth. In the suborders Mimosoideae and Papilionatae the embryo fills the seed or a small quantity of endosperm occurs, chiefly round the radicle. In Caesalpinioideae endosperm is absent, or present forming a thin layer round the embryo as in the tribeBauhinieae, or copious and cartilaginous as in theCassieae. The embryo has generally flat leaf-like or fleshy cotyledons with a short radicle.
The arrangement of the petals and the number and cohesion of the stamens vary in the three suborders. In Mimosoideae, the smallest of the three, the flower is regular (fig. 4 [3]), and the sepals and petals have a valvate aestivation, and are generally pentamerous, but 3-6-merous flowers also occur. The sepals are more or less united into a cup (fig. 4 [2]), and the petals sometimes cohere at the base. The stamens vary widely in number and cohesion; inAcacia(fig. 4) they are indefinite and free, in the tribeIngeae, indefinite and monadelphous, in other tribes as many or twice as many as the petals. Frequently, as inMimosa, the long yellow stamens are the most conspicuous feature of the flower. In Caesalpinioideae (fig. 5) the flowers are zygomorphic in a median plane and generally pentamerous. The sepals are free, or the two upper ones united as in tamarind, and imbricate in aestivation, rarely as in the Judas-tree (fig. 5 [2]), valvate. The corolla shows great variety in form; it is imbricate in aestivation, the posterior petal being innermost. InCercis(fig. 5) it clearly resembles the papilionaceous type; the odd petal stands erect, the median pair are reflexed and wing-like, and the lower pair enclose the essential organs. InCassiaall five petals are subequal and spreading; inAmherstiathe anterior pair are small or absent while the three upper ones are large; inKrameria, the anterior pair are represented by glandular scales, and inTamarindusare suppressed. Apetalous flowers occur inCopaiferaandCeratonia. The stamens, generally ten in number, are free, as inCercis(fig. 5) or more or less united as inAmherstia, where the posterior one is free and the rest are united. In tamarind only three stamens are fertile. The largest suborder, Papilionatae, has a flower zygomorphic in the median plane (figs. 6, 7). The five sepals are generally united (figs. 7, 9), and have an ascending imbricate arrangement (fig. 6); the calyx is often two-lipped (fig. 9 [1]). The corolla has five unequal petals with a descending imbricate arrangement; the upper and largest, the standard (vexillum), stands erect, the lateral pair, the wings oralae, are long-clawed, while the anterior pair cohere to form the keel orcarina, in which are enclosed the stamens and pistil. The ten stamens are monadelphous as in gorse or broom (fig. 9), or diadelphous as in sweet pea (fig. 8) (the posterior one being free), or almost or quite free; these differences are associated with differences in the methods of pollination. The ten stamens here, as in the last suborder, though arranged in a single whorl, arise in two series, the five opposite the sepals arising first.
The carpel is sometimes stalked and often surrounded at the base by a honey-secreting disk; the style is terminal and in the zygomorphic flowers is often curved and somewhat flattened with a definite back and front. Sometimes as in species ofTrifoliumandMedicagothe ovules are reduced to one. The pod or legume splits along both sutures (fig. 10) into a pair of membranous, leathery or sometimes fleshy valves, bearing the seeds on the ventral suture. Dehiscence is often explosive, the valves separating elastically and twisting spirally, thus shooting out the seeds, as in gorse, broom and others. InDesmodium,Entadaand others the pod is constricted between each seed, and breaks up into indehiscent one-seeded parts; it is then called a lomentum (fig. 11); inAstragalusit is divided by a longitudinal septum.
The pods show a very great variety in form and size. Thus in the clovers they are a small fraction of an inch, while in the common tropical climberEntada scandensthey are woody structures more than a yard long and several inches wide. They are generally more or less flattened, but sometimes round and rod-like, as in species ofCassia, or are spirally coiled as inMedicago. Indehiscent one-seeded pods occur in species of clover and inMedicago, also inDalbergiaand allied genera, where they are winged. InColutea, the bladder-senna of gardens, the pod forms an inflated bladder which bursts under pressure; it often becomes detached and is blown some distance before bursting. An arillar outgrowth is often developed on the funicle, and is sometimes brightly coloured, rendering the seed conspicuous and favouring dissemination by birds; in such cases the seed-coat is hard. In other cases the hard seed-coat itself is bright-coloured as in the scarlet seeds ofAbrus precatorius, the so-called weather-plant. Animals also act as the agents of distribution in the case of fleshy edible pods containing seeds with a hard smooth testa, which will pass uninjured through the body, as in tamarind and the fruit of the carob-tree (Ceratonia). In the ground-nut (Arachis hypogaea),Trifolium subterraneumand others, the flower-stalks grow downwards after fertilization of the ovules and bury the fruit in the earth. In the suborders Mimosoideae and Papilionatae the embryo fills the seed or a small quantity of endosperm occurs, chiefly round the radicle. In Caesalpinioideae endosperm is absent, or present forming a thin layer round the embryo as in the tribeBauhinieae, or copious and cartilaginous as in theCassieae. The embryo has generally flat leaf-like or fleshy cotyledons with a short radicle.
1, Calyx.
2, Standard.
3, Wing.
4, Keel.
5, Monadelphous stamens and style.
6, Pistil.
7, Pod.
Insects play an important part in the pollination of the flowers. In the two smaller suborders the stamens and stigmaare freely exposed and the conspicuous coloured stamens serve as well as the petals to attract insects; inMimosaandAcaciathe flowers are crowded in conspicuous heads or spikes. The relation of insects to the flower has been carefully studied in the Papilionatae, chiefly in European species. Where honey is present it is secreted on the inside of the base of the stamens and accumulated in the base of the tube formed by the united filaments round the ovary. It is accessible only to insects with long probosces, such as bees. In these cases the posterior stamen is free, allowing access to the honey. The flowers stand more or less horizontally; the large erect white or coloured standard renders them conspicuous, the wings form a platform on which the insect rests and the keel encloses the stamens and pistil, protecting them from rain and the attacks of unbidden pollen-eating insects. In his book on the fertilization of flowers, Hermann Müller distinguishes four types of papilionaceous flowers according to the way in which the pollen is applied to the bee:
(1) Those in which the stamens and stigma return within the carina and thus admit of repeated visits, such are the clovers,Melilotusand laburnum. (2) Explosive flowers where stamens and style are confined within the keel under tension and the pressure of the insect causes their sudden release and the scattering of the pollen, as in broom andGenista; these contain no honey but are visited for the sake of the pollen. (3) The piston-mechanism as in bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus),Anthyllis,OnonisandLupinus, where the pressure of the bee upon the carina while probing for honey squeezes a narrow ribbon of pollen through the opening at the tip. The pollen has been shed into the cone-like tip of the carina, and the heads of the five outer stamens form a piston beneath it, pushing it out at the tip when pressure is exerted on the keel; a further pressure causes the protrusion of the stigma, which is thus brought in contact with the insect’s belly. (4) The style bears a brush of hairs which sweeps small quantities of pollen out of the tip of the carina, as inLathyrus,Pisum,ViciaandPhaseolus.
(1) Those in which the stamens and stigma return within the carina and thus admit of repeated visits, such are the clovers,Melilotusand laburnum. (2) Explosive flowers where stamens and style are confined within the keel under tension and the pressure of the insect causes their sudden release and the scattering of the pollen, as in broom andGenista; these contain no honey but are visited for the sake of the pollen. (3) The piston-mechanism as in bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus),Anthyllis,OnonisandLupinus, where the pressure of the bee upon the carina while probing for honey squeezes a narrow ribbon of pollen through the opening at the tip. The pollen has been shed into the cone-like tip of the carina, and the heads of the five outer stamens form a piston beneath it, pushing it out at the tip when pressure is exerted on the keel; a further pressure causes the protrusion of the stigma, which is thus brought in contact with the insect’s belly. (4) The style bears a brush of hairs which sweeps small quantities of pollen out of the tip of the carina, as inLathyrus,Pisum,ViciaandPhaseolus.
Leguminosae is a cosmopolitan order, and often affords a characteristic feature of the vegetation. Mimosoideae and Caesalpinioideae are richly developed in the tropical rain forests, where Papilionatae are less conspicuous and mostly herbaceous; in subtropical forests arborescent forms of all three suborders occur. In the temperate regions, tree-forms are rare—thus Mimosoideae are unrepresented in Europe; Caesalpinioideae are represented by species ofCercis,GymnocladusandGleditschia; Papilionatae byRobinia; but herbaceous Papilionatae abound and penetrate to the limit of growth of seed-plants in arctic and high alpine regions. Shrubs and undershrubs, such asUlex,Genista,Cytisusare a characteristic feature in Europe and the Mediterranean area. Acacias are an important component of the evergreen bush-vegetation of Australia, together with genera of the tribePodalyrieaeof Papilionatae (Chorizema,Oxylobium, &c.).Astragalus,Oxytropis,Hedysarum,Onobrychis, and others are characteristic of the steppe-formations of eastern Europe and western Asia.
The order is a most important one economically. The seeds, which are rich in starch and proteids, form valuable foods, as in pea, the various beans, vetch, lentil, ground-nut (Arachis) and others; seeds ofArachisand others yield oils; those ofPhysostigma venenosum, the Calabar ordeal bean, contain a strong poison. Many are useful fodder-plants, as the clovers (Trifolium) (q.v.), Medicago (e.g.M. sativa, lucerne (q.v.), or alfalfa);Melilotus,Vicia,Onobrychis(O. sativais sainfoin,q.v.); species ofTrifolium, lupine and others are used as green manure. Many of the tropical trees afford useful timber;Crotalaria,Sesbania,Aeschynomeneand others yield fibre; species ofAcaciaandAstragalusyield gum;Copaifera,Hymenaeaand others balsams and resins; dyes are obtained fromGenista(yellow),Indigofera(blue) and others;Haematoxylon campechianumis logwood; of medicinal value are species ofCassia(senna leaves) andAstragalus;Tamarindus indicais tamarind,Glycyrrhiza glabrayields liquorice root. Well-known ornamental trees and shrubs areCercis(C. siliquastrumis the Judas-tree),Gleditschia,Genista,Cytisus(broom),Colutea(C. arborescensis bladder-senna),RobiniaandAcacia;Wisteriasinensis, a native of China, is a well-known climbing shrub;Phaseolus multiflorusis the scarlet runner;Lathyrus(sweet and everlasting peas),Lupinus,Galega(goat’s-rue) and others are herbaceous garden plants.Ceratonia Siliquais the carob-tree of the Mediterranean, the pods of which (algaroba or St John’s bread) contain a sweet juicy pulp and are largely used for feeding stock.The order is well represented in Britain. ThusGenista tinctoriais dyers’ greenweed, yielding a yellow dye;G. anglicais needle furze; other shrubs areUlex(U. europaeus, gorse, furze or whin,U. nanus, a dwarf species) andCytisus scoparius, broom. Herbaceous plants areOnonis spinosa(rest-harrow),Medicago(medick),Melilotus(melilot),Trifolium(the clovers),Anthyllis Vulneraria(kidney-vetch),Lotus corniculatus(bird’s-foot trefoil),Astragalus(milk-vetch),Vicia(vetch, tare) andLathyrus.
The order is a most important one economically. The seeds, which are rich in starch and proteids, form valuable foods, as in pea, the various beans, vetch, lentil, ground-nut (Arachis) and others; seeds ofArachisand others yield oils; those ofPhysostigma venenosum, the Calabar ordeal bean, contain a strong poison. Many are useful fodder-plants, as the clovers (Trifolium) (q.v.), Medicago (e.g.M. sativa, lucerne (q.v.), or alfalfa);Melilotus,Vicia,Onobrychis(O. sativais sainfoin,q.v.); species ofTrifolium, lupine and others are used as green manure. Many of the tropical trees afford useful timber;Crotalaria,Sesbania,Aeschynomeneand others yield fibre; species ofAcaciaandAstragalusyield gum;Copaifera,Hymenaeaand others balsams and resins; dyes are obtained fromGenista(yellow),Indigofera(blue) and others;Haematoxylon campechianumis logwood; of medicinal value are species ofCassia(senna leaves) andAstragalus;Tamarindus indicais tamarind,Glycyrrhiza glabrayields liquorice root. Well-known ornamental trees and shrubs areCercis(C. siliquastrumis the Judas-tree),Gleditschia,Genista,Cytisus(broom),Colutea(C. arborescensis bladder-senna),RobiniaandAcacia;Wisteriasinensis, a native of China, is a well-known climbing shrub;Phaseolus multiflorusis the scarlet runner;Lathyrus(sweet and everlasting peas),Lupinus,Galega(goat’s-rue) and others are herbaceous garden plants.Ceratonia Siliquais the carob-tree of the Mediterranean, the pods of which (algaroba or St John’s bread) contain a sweet juicy pulp and are largely used for feeding stock.
The order is well represented in Britain. ThusGenista tinctoriais dyers’ greenweed, yielding a yellow dye;G. anglicais needle furze; other shrubs areUlex(U. europaeus, gorse, furze or whin,U. nanus, a dwarf species) andCytisus scoparius, broom. Herbaceous plants areOnonis spinosa(rest-harrow),Medicago(medick),Melilotus(melilot),Trifolium(the clovers),Anthyllis Vulneraria(kidney-vetch),Lotus corniculatus(bird’s-foot trefoil),Astragalus(milk-vetch),Vicia(vetch, tare) andLathyrus.
LÈGYA,called by the ShansLai-Hka, a state in the central division of the southern Shan States of Burma, lying approximately between 20° 15′ and 21° 30′ N. and 97° 50′ and 98° 30′ E., with an area of 1433 sq. m. The population was estimated at 30,000 in 1881. On the downfall of King Thibaw civil warbroke out, and reduced the population to a few hundreds. In 1901 it had risen again to 25,811. About seven-ninths of the land under cultivation consists of wet rice cultivation. A certain amount of upland rice is also cultivated, and cotton, sugar-cane and garden produce make up the rest; recently large orange groves have been planted in the west of the state. Laihka, the capital, is noted for its iron-work, both the iron and the implements made being produced at Pang Lōng in the west of the state. This and lacquer-ware are the chief exports, as also a considerable amount of pottery. The imports are chiefly cotton piece-goods and salt. The general character of the state is that of an undulating plateau, with a broad plain near the capital and along the Nam Tēng, which is the chief river, with a general altitude of a little under 3000 ft.