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| From Vines’s Students’ Text-Bookof Botany, by permissionof Swan, Sonnenschein& Co. | Fig. 11.—Lomentumor lomentaceous legumeof a species ofDesmodium. Eachseed is contained in aseparate cavity by thefolding inwards of thewalls of the legume atequal intervals; thelegume, when ripe, separatestransversely intosingle-seeded portionsor mericarps. |
| Fig. 10.—Dry dehiscentFruit. The pod(legume) of the Pea.r, The dorsal suture; b,the ventral; c, calyx; s,seeds. |
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 of Cercis, Gymnocladus and Gleditschia; Papilionatae by Robinia; but herbaceous Papilionatae abound and penetrate to the limit of growth of seed-plants in arctic and high alpine regions. Shrubs and undershrubs, such as Ulex, Genista, Cytisus are 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 tribe Podalyrieae of 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 of Arachis and others yield oils; those of Physostigma 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. sativa is sainfoin, q.v.); species of Trifolium, lupine and others are used as green manure. Many of the tropical trees afford useful timber; Crotalaria, Sesbania, Aeschynomene and others yield fibre; species of Acacia and Astragalus yield gum; Copaifera, Hymenaea and others balsams and resins; dyes are obtained from Genista (yellow), Indigofera (blue) and others; Haematoxylon campechianum is logwood; of medicinal value are species of Cassia (senna leaves) and Astragalus; Tamarindus indica is tamarind, Glycyrrhiza glabra yields liquorice root. Well-known ornamental trees and shrubs are Cercis (C. siliquastrum is the Judas-tree), Gleditschia, Genista, Cytisus (broom), Colutea (C. arborescens is bladder-senna), Robinia and Acacia; Wisteria sinensis, a native of China, is a well-known climbing shrub; Phaseolus multiflorus is the scarlet runner; Lathyrus (sweet and everlasting peas), Lupinus, Galega (goat’s-rue) and others are herbaceous garden plants. Ceratonia Siliqua is 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. Thus Genista tinctoria is dyers’ greenweed, yielding a yellow dye; G. anglica is needle furze; other shrubs are Ulex (U. europaeus, gorse, furze or whin, U. nanus, a dwarf species) and Cytisus scoparius, broom. Herbaceous plants are Ononis 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) and Lathyrus.
LÈGYA, called by the Shans Lai-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 war broke 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.
LEH, the capital of Ladakh, India, situated 4 m. from the right bank of the upper Indus 11,500 ft. above the sea, 243 m. from Srinagar and 482 m. from Yarkand. It is the great emporium of the trade which passes between India, Chinese Turkestan and Tibet. Here meet the routes leading from the central Asian khanates, Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan and Lhasa. The two chief roads from Leh to India pass via Srinagar and through the Kulu valley respectively. Under a commercial treaty with the maharaja of Kashmir, a British officer is deputed to Leh to regulate and control the traders and the traffic, conjointly with the governor appointed by the Kashmir state. Lying upon the western border of Tibet, Leh has formed the starting-point of many an adventurous journey into that country, the best-known route being that called the Janglam, the great trade route to Lhasa and China, passing by the Manasarowar lakes and the Mariam La pass into the valley of the Tsanpo. Pop. (1901) 2079. A Moravian mission has long been established here, with an efficient little hospital. There is also a meteorological observatory, the most elevated in Asia, where the average mean temperature ranges from 19.3° in January to 64.4° in July. The annual rainfall is only 3 in.
LEHMANN, JOHANN GOTTLOB (?-1767), German mineralogist and geologist, was educated at Berlin where he took his degree of doctor of medicine. He became a teacher of mineralogy and mining in that city, and was afterwards (1761) appointed professor of chemistry and director of the imperial museum at St Petersburg. While distinguished for his chemical and mineralogical researches, he may also be regarded as one of the pioneers in geological investigation. Although he accepted the view of a universal deluge, he gave in 1756 careful descriptions of the rocks and stratified formations in Prussia, and introduced the now familiar terms Zechstein and Rothes Todtliegendes (Rothliegende) for subdivisions of the strata since grouped as Permian. His chief observations were published in Versuch einer Geschichte von Flötz-Gebūrgen, betreffend deren Entstehung, Lage, darinne befindliche Metallen, Mineralien und Fossilien (1756). He died at St Petersburg on the 22nd of January 1767.