Gleditschia mojiosperma^ 

 THE ONE-SEEDED GLEDITSCHIA. 



Synonymes. 



Gleditschia monosperma, 



Fevier monosperme, 

 Einsamiger Honigdorn, 

 Gleditschia monosperma, 

 Water Locust, 



(Walter, Flora Caroliniana. 

 De Candoi.le, Prodromus. 

 MicnAux, North American Sylva 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum 

 ToRREY AND Gray, Flora of North America. 

 France. 

 Germany. 

 Italy. 

 Britain and Anglo-America. 



Derivation. The specific name, monosperma, ig derived from the Greek monos, one, and sperma, a seed, naving reference to 

 the growing of only one seed in each pod. The French, German, and Italian names have the same signification. It is called 

 Water Locust, on account of its growing only in large swamps that border rivers, where the soil is constantly wel, and ofleo 

 inundated at the season of the rising of the waters. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 80; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, 11., figure 364; and the figures 

 below. 



Specific Characters. Spines slender, not rarely trifid, few. Leaflets ovate-oblong, acute. Legumes flat- 

 tish, roundish, 1-seeded. De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Descriptmi. 



HE Gleditschia mo- 

 nosperma, in its nat- 

 (ri, ural habitat, attains 



^1^4 a height of sixty or 



eighty feet, with a trunk from one to two feet in 

 diameter. In some respects it closely resem- 

 bles the preceding species. The bark, though 

 smooth when the tree is young, cracks and ^ ' 

 scales off when it becomes old. The branches "l^^ 

 are armed with thorns, and are less numerous, 

 and somewhat smaller than those of the Gle- 

 ditschia triacanthos ; and the leaves differ from 

 it in being more diminutive in all their pro- 

 portions. The flowers, which open in June and July, are inconspicuous, of a 

 greenish colour, and destitute of odour. They are succeeded by flat, roundish 

 pods, of a reddish colour, about an inch in diameter, united in bunches of three, 

 each of which contains a single, naked seed. The seeds usually come to maturity, 

 in the United States, early in September. 



Geog?'aphy, History, 6^c. The Gleditschia monosperma, along the sea-board, 

 is found indigenous to South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida. Louisiana, and 

 Texas; and west of the Alleghanies, it is found in Illinois. It grows only in 

 large swamps that border the rivers, where the soil is rich and moist, or is occa- 

 sionally overflowed at the season of the rising waters. In such soils it is found 

 growing among tlie Taxodium distichum, Nyssa grandidentata, Acer rubrmn, 

 Q,uercus lyrata, Planera ulmifolia, Juglaiis cathartica, and other trees, rotiuiring 

 a deep, rich, moist soil. 



This species was introduced into Britain, in 1723, by Mark Catesby, and 

 treated in all respects like the Gleditschia triacanthos, of which it was considered, 

 until within a few years, only a variety 



