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CLAJJRASTIS TINCTOEIA. 



NOTE ON THE CLADRASTIS TINCTORIA, (Virgilia lite a of Micuaix.) 



BY S. B. BL'CKLi:^, WEST DRESDEN, N. Y. 



In several numbers of the Horticulturist, and various nursery catalogues lately pub- 

 lisbed, the Cladrastis tinctoria is called by Miciiaux's old name, Virc/ilia lutea* 

 which has been discarded by most .botanists, because it is very distinct from a true 

 Virgilia — a genus named by La March in honor of the poet Virgil. The name 

 given by Micuaux, in the infancy of our botany, proving to be wrong, Rafinesque 

 formed of it a new genus — Cladrastis — in 1825, with the specific name of tinctoria, 

 from the yellow coloring matter contained in its wood and roots. The authority of 

 Rafinesql'e has been followed by Endlicuer, in his Genera Plantarum, now 

 acknowledged to be the standard work on botanical genera ; and also by Torry & 

 Gray, in their Flora of North America. There are three species of Virgilia culti- 

 vated in England, according to Loudon, all shrubs, one of which is a native of Abys- 

 sinia, and two of the Cape of Good Hope. 



I saw a fine Cladrastis tinctoria on the banks of the French Broad river, near 

 Paint Rock, in East Tennessee, a few miles from the Warm Springs in North Caro- 

 lina. It was nearly a foot in diameter, and about twenty-five feet high, with pinnate 

 leaves, and very large, ovate, deep green leaflets, and flowers much like the common 

 Locust, (Robinia pseudo-acacia). This was the only Cladrastis I saw during a botan- 

 ical tour through Tennessee and among the mountains of North Carolina. I also 

 have specimens received from Prof. Short, collected on Kentucky river. It is a rare 

 tree, both in the South and South-western States, and seems to be rather rare in the 

 nurseries. Last spring I was told there were none suitable for transplanting in any 

 of the nurseries at Flushing, Long Island. I saw a few specimens in one of the hot- 

 houses of the Messrs. Parsons, at the latter place, which' were raised from the seed, 

 and but three or four inches high, which I was informed were all they had. 



While writing of the Messrs. Parsons, I must add that there I saw thousands of 

 Pines, Cedars, Firs, and other kindred families, growing from cuttings.f I supposed 

 till then that all these genera had to be propagated from the seed, but there these 

 future trees, from two to six inches high, were growing nicely in boxes of a sandy loam. 



* Virgilia is the name in all nursery catalogues, and in most of the botanical works to which reference is more 

 commonly made. The Bon Jardinier has it Ckidastrui, after EAFiNEStiUE. Loudoii'8 Arboretum, and Miclmux^s 

 S>/lva, the two great works on trees, do not mention CladanU-is. Puicton''8 Botanical JActionary enumerates six 

 epecics of Virgilia, all evergreen shrubs, except the lutea: one a native of Abyssinia, the others of the Cape of Good 

 Uope. These are greenhouse plants — Ed. 



t AVe think our correspondent must be mistaken in regard to Tines and Firs being propagated by thousands from 

 cuttings, by the Messrs. Taf^sons. It is not jjraeticable to propagate either from cuttings on a scale of sufficient im- 

 portance for a nurseryman, besides the plants so raised are of little value as compared to seedlings. Junipers, Cedars, 

 Cj'presses, Arbor Vitse, &c., are grown successfully from cuttings. — Eu. 



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