. Cyclopedia of farm crops, a popular survey of crops and crop-making methods in the United States and Canada;. Farm produce; Agriculture. 392 LEGUMES LEGUMES. / Fig. 588. Root nodules. 'veriTHfoliumpratense). One and one-fourtli times natural size. Red clo- Legume Root-tubercles. (Figs. 588-592.) By George F. Atkinson. The legume root-tubercles, or "nodules," are small galls on the roots of leguminous plants, which are caused by the activities of minute bacteria present in the soil wherever leguminous plants grow. The galls vary in form on dif- erent species or gen- era, being oval
. Cyclopedia of farm crops, a popular survey of crops and crop-making methods in the United States and Canada;. Farm produce; Agriculture. 392 LEGUMES LEGUMES. / Fig. 588. Root nodules. 'veriTHfoliumpratense). One and one-fourtli times natural size. Red clo- Legume Root-tubercles. (Figs. 588-592.) By George F. Atkinson. The legume root-tubercles, or "nodules," are small galls on the roots of leguminous plants, which are caused by the activities of minute bacteria present in the soil wherever leguminous plants grow. The galls vary in form on dif- erent species or gen- era, being oval on the red clover, rounded and slightly lobed on the soybean, cylindri- cal or club-shaped, simple or branched once or twice, on the vetch (Vieia sativa), or many times dichot- omously branched into a rounded mass, as in Medieago den- tieulata. They are whitish or of a pale flesh-color, sometimes sordid brown in age. They occur on the roots of nearly all leguminous plants, but are absent on some, as, for example, on the honey locust (Gleditschia triacanthos). History of the study of root-tubercles. While the history of the study of these root- tubercles of leguminous plants is extremely inter- esting, reference can be made here only to a few of the diverse views which have been entertained as to their nature, origin and significance. Some of the early observers thought that they were galls produced by insects, or by eel-worms. By others they were regarded as lateral roots with dwarf growth, or swollen lateral root organs for the purpose of absorbing food, while others held that they were lenticels which played some physiological role in the life of the plant. They were also thought by others to be imperfect buds which could repro- duce the plant. They were classed as fungi of the genus Sclero- tium by some, or as pathological out- growths. Since Wor- onin, in 1866, discov- ered in the nodules bacteria-like bodies, which he thought to be the cause of their formation, the theory
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