3. Legumen, a Legume, is the peculiar solitary fruit of the Pea kind, formed of two oblong valves, without any longitudinal partition, and bearing the seeds along one of its margins only. See Engl. Bot. t. 1046, 805, &c. The Tamarind is a Legume filled with pulp, in which the seeds are lodged. The Capsules of Helleborus and some other plants allied thereto, justly indicated by Gærtner as approaching very nearly to the definition of Legumes, differ essentially in not being solitary, and in consisting each but of one valve. Some Larkspurs indeed bear such capsules solitary, but analogy teaches us their true nature.
When a Legume is divided into several cells, it is always by transverse constrictions, never by a separate longitudinal partition; see Dolichos purpureus, Exot. Bot. t. 74.
Sometimes this kind of fruit lodges but one seed, as in many species of Trifolium; see Engl. Bot. t. 1048, also Viminaria denudata, Exot. Bot. t. 27. It is only by analogy that such are known to be Legumes.
