GENUS 2. 



PEA FAMILY. 



343 



2. CLADRASTIS Raf. Neogenyton i. 1825. 



Trees, with odd-pinnate leaves, no stipules nor stipels, the petiole-base hollow. Flowers 

 showy, white, in terminal panicles. Calyx-teeth 5, short, broad. Standard orbicular-obovate, 

 reflexed; wing oblong; keel incurved, obtuse, its petals distinct. Stamens 10, all distinct; 

 filaments slender; anthers all alike, versatile. Ovary sessile or nearly so; ovules few; style 

 incurved. Pod linear or lanceolate, short-stalked, flat, at length 2-valved, few-seeded. [Greek, 

 brittle-branch.] 



A monotypic genus of the southeastern United States, related to the Manchurian Maackia. 



i. Cladrastis lutea (Michx. f.) Koch. 



American or Kentucky Yellow-wood. 



Fig. 2450. 



Virgilia lutea Michx. f. Arb. Am. 3: 266. pi. 3. 1813. 

 Cladrastis fragrans Raf. Cat. Bot. Card. Trans. 12. 



Name only. 1824. 



Cladrastis tinctoria Raf. Neogenyton i. 1825. 

 Cladrastis lutea Koch, Dendrol. i : 6. 1869. 



A smooth-barked tree, with maximum height of 

 about 50 and trunk diameter of about 3^. Fo- 

 liage nearly glabrous; leaves petioled; leaflets 5 -II > 

 ovate, oval or obovate, stalked, 2-4' long, pointed 

 or blunt-acuminate at the apex, obtuse or the term- 

 inal one cuneate at the base ; panicles many-flow- 

 ered, drooping, io'-2o' long; pedicels slender, 5"-^" 

 long ; calyx tubular-campanulate ; corolla white, 

 about i' long; pod short-stalked, glabrous, 2'-4' 

 long, 4"-5" wide, 2-6-seeded. 



In rich soil, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and west- 

 ern North Carolina. Wood yellow, hard, strong, yield- 

 ing a yellow dye ; weight per cubic foot 39 Ibs. Flow- 

 ers fragrant. June. Yellow-ash or -locust. Gopher- 

 wood. Fustic-tree. 



3. THERMOPSIS R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. Ed. 2, 3: 3. 1811. 



Perennial branching herbs, with sheathing scales at the base, alternate 3-foliolate leaves, 

 and large yellow or purple flowers in terminal or axillary racemes. Stipules usually large 

 and foliaceous. Calyx campanulate or short-turbinate, its lobes equal and separate, or the two 

 upper ones united. Standard nearly orbicular, equalling the oblong wings and about equalling 

 the keel. Stamens 10, incurved, separate. Ovary sessile or short-stipitate ; ovules o ; style 

 slightly incurved; stigma terminal, small. Pod sessile or short-stalked, flat (in our species), 

 linear or oblong, straight or curved. [Greek, Lupine-like.] 



About 20 species, natives of North America and northern and eastern Asia. Besides the follow- 

 ing, some 10 others occur in the southern Alleghanies and in the western part of the continent. Type 

 species : Thermopsis lanceolata (Willd.) R. Br. 



Leaflets i'-3' long ; panicle elongated, usually long-peduncled ; eastern. i. T. mollis. 



Leaflets j' ij4' long; panicle short, short-peduncled ; western. 2. T.rhombifolia. 



i. Thermopsis mollis (Michx.) M. A. Curtis. 

 Alleghany Thermopsis. Fig. 2451. 



Podalyria mollis Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 264. 1803. 

 Baptisia mollis DC. Prodr. 2: 100. 1825. 



Thermopsis mollis M. A. Curtis ; A. Gray, Chlor. Bor. Am. 

 47- PL 9> 1846. 



Erect, somewhat divaricately branched, 2-3 high, 

 finely appressed-pubescent. Leaves petioled, 3-foliolate; 

 leaflets oval, rhombic-elliptic or obovate, entire, i'~3' 

 long, 9"-! 5" wide, obtuse or acute, nearly sessile ; stipules 

 ovate or lanceolate, shorter than the petiole ; racemes 

 6'-io' long, mainly terminal ; pedicels 2"-6" long, bracted 

 at the base; flowers yellow, about 9" long; pod short- 

 stalked in the calyx, linear, slightly curved, 2'-^' long. 



Southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, North Caro- 

 lina and Georgia, in the mountains. Bush-pea. July-Aug. 



