20 NANTUCKET TREES 



Robinia Pseudo-Acacia L. These are now fairly numerous 

 in the town. One stand is on Cliff Road opposite Sun- 

 set Avenue. The clusters of fragrant white flowers 

 which bloom in June make the locust a pleasant tree for 

 one's yard, A related species, Robinia viscosa Vent., 

 the pink-flowered clammy locust, forms a thicket on 

 Cliff Road opposite "Derrymore" and also on Cabot Avenue 

 just off Cliff Road. 



The honey locust, Gleditsia tri acanthus L., is a 

 more striking tree than the black locust. The leaflets 

 of its compound leaves are smaller and they are often 

 twice divided. The resultant feathery foliage, the 

 branching thorns, and the long red pods which follow 

 inconspicuous flowers are characters quite distinct 

 from Robinia . Pour of these tall trees fill a corner 

 lot on Fair Street opposite the Woodbox. Probably few 

 of the visitors who admire the "Harp of the Winds" on 

 the Polpis Road recognize the trees as the honey locust. 

 There was another honey locust "harp, " rather the worse 

 for wind, at the Franklin Valley Farm on Crooked Lane 

 but since the two recent hurricanes it is leafless. 



At 44 Orange Street a group of trees might at 

 first sight be mistaken for the black locust. The com- 

 pound leaf, however, lacks the small thorns at the base 

 of the leaf stalk which has given to the locust the 

 name "two thorn acacia. " The blossom clusters are more 

 creamy-white than those of the locust and the pods, con- 

 stricted between the seeds, give the effect of a chain 

 of green beads. This is SoDhora javonica L. , the scholar 

 tree or pagoda tree of the Orient, so-called because of 

 its frequent planting around pagodas. The flowers and 

 fruits of Sophora yield a yellow dye. The tree is said 

 to withstand heat and drought and is, therefore, a good 

 street tree. 23 



Marthas Vineyard has an older Sophora than 

 Nantucket. It is said to have been brought from China 

 by Captain Thomas Milton in 1837 . It came in a small 

 flower pot; today it rises to 90 feet with a spread of 

 70 feet. 47 



In the early 19th century New England developed 

 an interest in the silk industry, and this interest 



