650 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Sect. V. Cassie'^. 

 Genus XX. 



GLEDI'TSCH/^ L. The Gleditschia. Lin. Syst. Polygamia Dice'cia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 1159. ; Lam. 111., p. 857. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 479. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 428. 



Synoyiymcs. .^ckcia sp. Pluk. ; Fevicr ; Fr., Gleditscliie, Ger. 



Derivation. In honour of Gottlieb Gleditsrli, of Leipsic, once a professor at Berlin, r.nd defender of 



Linna?us against Siegesbeck ; author of Mclltodus Fungorum (1753), Sy sterna Planlaium a Staminum 



situ (1764), and many other smaller works. 



Description. Deciduous trees. Branchlets supra-axillary, and often con- 

 verted into blanched spines. Leaves abruptly pinnate ; in the same species 

 pinnate, bipinnate, or, rarely, by the coalition of the leaflets, almost simple. 

 Flowers greenish, in spikes. Among the ovaries, it often happens, especially 

 among those of the terminal flowers, that two grow together by their seed- 

 bearing suture, which is ralher villose. (Z)tr. 7^/w/., ii. p. 479.) Deciduous 

 trees of the 1st, 2d, and 3d ranks, natives of North America or China, of 

 easy culture in good free soil ; and, in Britain, generally propagated by imported 

 seeds, or grafting. The species appear to be in a state of great confusion 

 in British gardens ; and, judging from the trees in the garden of the London 

 Horticultural Society, and in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, we should 

 conjecture that there is, probably, not more than two species, the American, 

 and the Chinese; possibly only one. The Chinese species is distinguished 

 by its trunk being more spiny than its branches. 



5f 1. G. triaca'nthos Lin. The three-thorned Gleditschia, or Honey Locust. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1509. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 479. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 428. 



Synonytnes. G. triacanthos var. a polysi)erma Mart. Mill. ; G. meliloba Walt. ; G. spinosa Du 



Hum.; yfcicia triac.'nlhos Hort. ; Ac'<>c\!l americkna Fliik. ; Fcvier d'Amcrique, Fr. ; Thorny 



Acacia, Sweet Locust, United .Slates ; Carouge i Miel, Canada. 

 Engravings. N. Du Hdm., 4. t. 25. ; Michx. Fil. Arb., 2. p. 1(54. t. 10. ; Hort. Ang.,t. 21.; Wats. 



Dend. Brit., t. 1J8. ; Pluk. Mant., t. S.'i2. f. 2. ; and the plates of this species in our Second Volume. 



Sjjec. Char., S)C. Spines simple or trifid ; stout, at the very base compressed, 

 in the upper part cylindrical, but tapered. Leaflets linear-oblong. Le- 

 gumes flattish, rather crooked, many-seeded, and more than ten times as 

 long as broad. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 479.) A tree of from 50 ft. to 80 ft. high, 

 a native of Carolina and Virginia. Introduced in 1700; flowering in June 

 and July. 



ltG.t.2 inermis Dec, G. laeVis Hort., (Dec. Leg. Man., 2. t. 22. fig. 109.; 

 Catesb. Carol., 1. t. 43.; Pluk. Aim., t. 123. fig. 3.; and the plates of 

 this variety in our Second Volume) has the stem and branches not 

 spiny, or but very sparingly so. 



Desmption. The three-thorned gleditschia, or honey locust, in favourable 

 situations in its native country, attains the height of 70 ft. or 80 ft., with a 

 trunk 3 ft. or 4 ft. in diameter ; and clear of branches to the height of 30 ft. 

 or 40 ft. In Britain, there are specimens of about 70 ft. in height. The 

 bark of the trunk and branches is of a grey colour ; and of the shoots and 

 spines, when young, of a purplish brown. When the tree attains some age, 

 the bark of the trunk detaches itself laterally, in plates of 3 in. or 4 in. in 

 width, and 2 or 3 lines in thickness. The trunk and branches, when the tree 

 is young, are covered with large prickles, which, though they are not ligneous, 

 become hard, and remain on for several years, and offer a formidable de- 

 fence. These prickles are not only produced by the young wood, but occa- 

 sionally protrude themselves from the trunk, even when the tree is of con- 

 siderable bulk and age. In general, the trunk presents a twisted appearance, 

 and the branches proceed from it rather horizontally than in an upright 

 direction. The pinnated foliage is particularly elegant, and of an agreeable 



