YELLOW- WOOD; VIRGILIA (Cladrastis lutea, Raf.). 30 

 to 60 feet. Slender, graceful tree, with wide-spreading, pen- 

 dulous branches, brittle twigs, forming a round head above a 

 short trunk. Bark gray, often silvery, fine-textured like beech 

 bark; branches paler. Wood yellow, satiny, hard, fine- 

 grained, turning brown with exposure, used for gun stocks 

 and fuel. Yields yellow dye. Leaves compound of o to 11, 

 oval leaflets, plain margined, smooth, bright green, paler 

 beneath, 3 to 4 inches long, clear yellow in fall. Flowers 

 creamy white, fragrant, of the pea-blossom type .n loose 

 panicles, 12 to 14 inches long, and 5 to 6 inches wide, in June. 

 Fruit clustered pods, thin, brown, smooth, few-seeded, 2 to 3 

 inches long, ripe in September, and falling soon. Dist.: 

 Limestone ridges, oftener on bluffs overhanging streams, rare 

 and local in Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Hardy 

 in Boston. A beautiful flowering tree, improved by cultiva- 

 tion. 



186 



