Cladrastis tinctoria, 
THE VIRGILIA, OR YELLOW-WOOD. 
Synonymes. 
Virgilia lutea, 
Cladrastis tinctoria, 
Virgilia, 
Yellow Locust, 
Virgilia, Yellow-wood, 
Michaux, North American Sylva. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. 
Other parts of the United States. 
Derivations. The specific names tinctoria and lutea, have reference to the yellow colour which the wood of this tree 'mparts 
to water. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 78; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, v., pi. 78; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves pinnate. Leaflets 9 11, petiolate, alternate, ovate-acuminate, entire, glau- 
cous beneath, the odd one larger, ovate-rhomboidal, base acute. Flowers in simple, lax, nodding 
racemes, white, odorous. Pods smooth. 
Description. 
[HE Cladrastis tinctoria, in 
favourable situations, at- 
tains a height of thirty 
93 to fifty feet, and a diame- 
ter of ten" to twelve inches. The trunk is covered 
with a greenish bark, which is smooth, instead of 
being furrowed, like that of most other trees. The 
branches are brittle, and like the petioles and 
nerves of the leaves, are of a yellowish hue. The 
leaves on young and thrifty stocks are from a foot 
to a foot and a half in length, and on old trees they 
are not more than half of that size. They are 
composed of two rows of leaflets, which are petio- 
lulate, broadly oval, entire, smooth, the terminal 
one rhomboid-ovate, acuminate, an inch and a 
half to two inches broad, and from three to four 
inches long. As in the Platanus bccidentalis, (syca- 
more,) the lower part of the common footstalk 
contains an embryo bud, which becomes visible in removing the leaf. The flow- 
ers, which appear in April and May, form elegant white, pendulous racemes, 
from six to ten inches long, resembling those of the Robinia pseudacacia, 
(locust,) but less odoriferous. The seeds are contained in flat, even pods, from 
three to four inches long, and about one fourth of an inch wide, the margins of 
which are often somewhat undulate by the abortion of a portion of the seeds. In 
the United States the seeds mature in the month of August ; but in Britain, the 
tree is seldom seen in flower, which is probably owing more to the age of th* 
trees than to the effects of the climate. 
Geography and History. The Cladrastis tinctoria is a native of Kentucky, 
western Tennessee, and northern Alabama, where it is sparingly produced. It 
is successfully cultivated as an ornamental tree in many parts of the United 
States, and is perfectly hardy as far north as Massachusetts. 
