ijj PEA FAMILY 



regular or irregular, sepals 3-5, more or less united, petals 5, rarely fewer, 

 stamens 10, more or less united by their filaments or distinct; pistil 1, 

 simple, 1 -many-seeded, becoming a pod or legume in fruit. The typical 

 flower of this family, e. g. the pea, has the sepals united into an irregular 

 cup; the petals are of three forms, an upper odd petal (standard), two 

 lateral, spreading petals, (the wings), and two lower ones, the keel, more 

 or less united and inclosing the stamens and pistil. The stamens are 

 usually united by their filaments into a group of nine, the tenth stamen 

 being free. 



KEY TO THE GENERA 



1. Flowers regular or nearly so, imperfect, monoe- 



cious or dioecious, large trees 



a. Tree without thorns, leaves twice pinnate, 



stamens 10 Gymnocladus 



b. Tree with thorns, leaves once and twice pin- 



nate, stamens less than 10 Gleditsia 



2. Flowers, irregular, papilionaceous (sometimes 



with only 1 petal), perfect, trees or shrubs 



a. Flowers numerous, in spikes or racemes, not 



yellow 



(1) Flowers small, in dense spikes, 1 -pet- 



ailed, pods less than 2 cm. long Amorpha 



(2) Flowers large, in drooping racemes, pods 



over 2 cm. long Robinia 



b. Flowers solitary or in few-flowered racemes, 



yellow Caragana 



Gymnocladus Lamarck 1783 



(Gr. gymnos, naked, c 1 a d o s, branch, in allusion to the stout, 



naked branches.) 



Trees with rough bark and stout branchlets; leaves large and bi-pin- 

 nate; flowers showy, in terminal racemes, monoecious or dioecious, calyx 

 tubular, 5-lobed, lobes narrow, petals 5, oblong, equal, inserted at the top 

 of the calyx-tube, stamens 10, distinct, short, pistil rudimentary or lack- 

 ing in the staminate flowers, sessile and many-ovuled in the pistillate and 

 polygamous ones ; fruit an oblong pod, flat, hard, pulpy inside, seeds 

 numerous. 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 



