84 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
LEGUMINOS&. 
being lighter colored than the heartwood. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.5483, 
a cubic foot weighing 34.17 pounds.’ 
Cercidium floridum was probably discovered in Mexico by Dr. Thomas Coulter.’ 
1 Garden and Forest, iii. 332. 
2 Of the birth and early history of Thomas Coulter, who died in 
Dublin in 1843, nothing now appears to be known. He is said to 
have come to America as the surgeon of an English mining com- 
pany ; later, to gratify his taste for botanical exploration, he went 
to Monterey, California, which he reached in 1831, remaining there 
at least two years. He made a number of botanical journeys in 
California, and was the first botanist to explore the flora of the 
desert of the lower Colorado and Gila basins, which he visited in 
1832. Returning to Europe, Dr. Coulter was appointed curator 
of the herbarium in the Botanic Garden at Dublin, a position which 
he filled during the remainder of his life. His name is associated 
in the minds of the lovers of trees with a noble California Pine 
discovered by him and remarkable for the great size of its cones. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Puate CXXIX. CeERcimpIuM FLORIDUM. 
A stamen, enlarged. 
WAAAY 
. An embryo, enlarged. 
. A flowering branch, natural size. 
. The petals of a flower displayed, natural size. 
. Vertical section of a pistil, enlarged. 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
A legume, one of the valves removed, natural size. 
. A seed cut transversely, enlarged. 
