FOREST TREES. 183 



age. Flower panicles, axillary or terminal, white with red 

 veins. Leaves deciduous. Pods about two inches long. Nuttall 

 says the wood is heavy, hard and resinous, light-brown, rather 

 coarse-grained, but durable. A small tree in Southern Florida 

 and through the West Indies. 



PISTACIA; AYill. — Pistacia Nut, Etc. 



A small genus of dioecious sub-tropical trees, mostly natives 

 of Southern Europe. One, the P. officinalis, is extensively cul- 

 tivated in Sicily, for its fi'uit known as the Pistacia nut. 

 Another, the P. Terehenthus, yields the Cypress turi^entine, 

 whUe the P. lentiscus produces a mastick, much used among 

 the Armenian women for cleaning the teeth and perfumiag the 

 breath. One species in North America. 



Pistacia Mexicaua, HBK. — Mexican Pistacia. — Leaves com- 

 posed of f L-om five to ten pairs of small, oblong-ovate leaflets, 

 on a sUghtly winged leaf -stalk. Flowers dioecious and without 

 petals, in axillary clusters or panicles. Fruit small, somewhat 

 compressed. A small tree in Western Texas, Southern Cali- 

 fornia, and through Mexico. 



piTHECOLOBiuir, Martin. — Cat's Claiv. 



The genus Inga, from which the Pithecolobiums have been 

 separated, is an extensive one, and the species may be truthfully 

 said to encircle the entire globe in tropical climates. They are 

 mostly trees of larga size. They are all evergreen, with acacia- 

 like foliage. Fruit a legume or bean-Uke pod. We have one 

 species, the 



Pitliecoloblnm rng:nis-fati, Benth. — Cat's Claw. — Branches 

 usually spiny, but sometimes unarmed. Leaves bi-pinnate, leaf- 

 lets four ; thin and obliquely obovate. Flowers yellow in glo- 

 bose-heads, in a loose raceme. Pods spirally twisted, containing 

 five to six white seeds. A small tree fifteen to twenty feet 

 high in Southern Florida and the West Indies. 



PL AXE R A, Gmelin. — Planer Tree. 



A smaU genus of deciduous trees, closely related to the elms, 

 but with nut-Uke wingless fruit. All are handsome ornamental 

 trees. 



Planera aqnatlca. Gmel. — Planer Tree. — Leaves from an inch to 

 an inch and a half long, ovate, in short petioles, sharp-pointed, 

 serrate, with a rough surface. Flowers in small clusters, appear- 



