142 Leguminosae. 



Cercidium. Palo Verde. 

 (Family Leguminosae). 



Green-barked glabrous small 

 trees of the Southwest, sometimes 

 with axillary spines: deciduous. 

 Twigs slender, subterete, some- 

 #?& what zig-zag, finely but distinctly 



granular-roughened: pith moder- 

 i':'..vj;i, ate, roundish, continuous. Buds 



solitary and sessile, or collaterally 

 branching in spine formation or 

 '!;'/ becoming somewhat stalked in 



developing, minute, obscurely few- 

 scaled. Leaf-scars alternate, lit- 

 tle elevated, crescent-shaped or 

 . transversely almost linear, mi- 

 nute: bundle-traces 3, indistinct: 

 j~5 j U ! stipule-scars minute, at the angles 



of the leaf-scar. 



The palo verde or green tree is 

 one of the particularly striking 

 and unusual trees of the South- 

 west because of its smooth green 

 bark. Though characteristically spiny, it is sometimes nearly 

 or quite unarmed. 



Of Arizona and arid California. (1). C. Torreyanum. 



Of Texas. C. floridum. 



