Nodule bacteria of leguminous plants

Abstract

Despite the fact that the nodule bacteria of the leguminous plants have been made the subject of numerous publications, it is not to be disputed that their true morphological and physiological character, as well as their correct systematic position, are by no means sufficiently known. This is especially clearly demonstrated by the fact that they are still proclaimed by several writers to be the representatives oi a special genus Rhizobium, once established by A. B. Frank as the result of rather inadequate studies upon this subject. In the new classification of bacteria, adopted by the Society of American Bacteriologists, the nodule bacteria again are widely separated from closely related species, and the error concerning the so-called genus Rhizobium has been re-vived once niore