PULSE FAMILY. 113 



50. CERCIS, RED-BUD, JUDAS-TREE. (Ancient name of the ori- 

 ental species : the English name from the old notion that this was the tree 

 whereon Judas hanged himself.) 



C. Canadensis, AMERICAN RED-BUD. Wild from New York S. (but 

 probably not in Canada as the name implies) : a small, handsome tree, orna- 

 mental in spring, when the naked branches are covered with the small but very 

 numerous flowers, of the color of peach-blossoms or redder ; the rounded leaves 

 are somewhat pointed, and the pods scarcely stalked in the calyx. 



C. Siliquastrum, EUROPEAN R. or JUDAS-TREE. Barely hardy N., 

 except as a shrub ; has larger flowers, pod raised out of the calyx on a short 

 stalk, and almost kidney-shaped leaves. A seeming variety of this inhabits 

 Texas and California. 



51. CASSIA, SENNA. (Ancient name, of obscure meaning.) The follow- 

 ing all wild species, the first sometimes cult, in country gardens, and the 

 leaves used in place of true, oriental Senna. Fl. summer, in all ours yellow. 



1. Smooth herbs, in rich or alluvial soil, with rather large leaflets, deciduous 

 stipules, /lowers in short axillary racemes or crowded in a panicle, and the 

 10 stamens unequal, some of the upper anthers imperfect. 



C. Marilandica, WILD SENNA. The only common sort at the north, 

 3 -4 high, with 6-9 pairs of narrow-oblong blunt and mucronate leaflets, 

 a club-shaped gland on the common petiole near the base, bright yellow petals 

 often turning whitish when old, blackish anthers, and linear flat (at first hairy) 

 pods. 2/ 



C. occidentalis, WESTERN S. or STYPTIC-WEED. Common S., nat. 

 from South America: l-5 high, with 4-6 pairs of lance-ovate acute leaf- 

 lets, a globular gland on the base of the petiole, and narrow linear smooth pods 

 5' long. 



C. obtusif61ia. From Illinois and Virginia S. ; with 2 or 3 pairs of ob- 

 ovate leaflets, a pointed gland between the lowest, the pale flowers in pairs, and 

 slender curved pods 6' - 10' long. 



2. Low and spreading, smooth or roughish hairy herbs, in sandy or dry barren 

 soil, with persistent striate stipules, and 10-20 pairs of small linear-oblong 

 oblique or unequal-sided leaflets, which are somewhat sensitive, closing when 

 rouqhly brushed ; a cup-shaped gland below the lowest pair : flowers clus- 

 tered in the axils. 



C. ChamSBCrista, LARGE-FL. SENSITIVE or PARTRIDGE PEA. Flowers B 

 pretty large, showy, on slender pedicels, with the petals often purple-spotted at Q^ 

 base, a slender style, and 10 unequal stamens, some of the anthers usually yel- 

 low and others purple. Like the next most common S. 



C. nictitans, SMALL-PL. S. Flowers small, on very short pedicels, with 

 a short style, and 5 nearly equal anthers. 



52. C2ESALPINIA. (Named for the early Italian botanist Ccesalpinus.) 

 One species of tropical America, cult, in some conservatories, is planted out 

 in Gulf States, viz. 



C. pulcherrima (also named POINCIXNA PULCHERRIMA), BARBADOES 

 FLOWER-FENCE. Small tree, prickly, with twice-pinnate leaves, numerous 

 oblong leaflets notched at the end, and open terminal racemes of large and 

 showy flowers, the short-clawed broad and jagged-edged petals 1' long and red- 

 dish-orange, and the crimson filaments 3' long. 



53. GYMNOCLADUS, KENTUCKY COFFEE-TREE. (Name from 

 Greek words for naked branch, the branches being very stout, and when the 

 leaves have fallen appearing destitute of spray.) 



G. Canadensis. The only species, a fine ornamental and timber tree, wild 



from W. New York S. and especially W., with rough bark, twice-pinnate leaves 



2 or 3 long, each partial leafstalk bearing 7-13 ovate and stalked leaflets, 



except the lowest pair, which are single leaflets (2' -3' long); the leaflets 



S&F 16 



