250 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



Derivation. In honour of Gottlieb Gleditsch, of Leipsic, once a professor at Berlin, and defender of 

 Linnaeus against Siegesbeck ; author of Methodus Fungorum (1753), Systema Plantarum a Stami- 

 num situ (1764), and many other smaller works. 



Gen. Char. Flowers unisexual from abortion, or hermaphrodite. Calyx of 

 3 45 equal sepals, which are connected together at the base into a cu- 

 pule. Petals equal in number to the sepals, rising from the tube of the 

 calyx. Stamens equal in number to the sepals. Style short. Stigma pu- 

 bescent above. Legume continuous, furnished with more or less pulp. Seeds 

 compressed. (Don's Mill.) 



Leaves compound, abruptly pinnate, and bipinnate, on the same tree ; or, 

 rarely, by the coalition of the leaflets, almost simple, alternate, stipulate, 

 deciduous. Flowers greenish, in spikes. Trees, deciduous, of the 1st, 2d, 

 and 3d ranks ; natives of North America or China. Branchlets supra- 

 axillary, and often converted" into branched spines. Decaying leaves yellow. 

 Naked young wood purplish or brownish green. 



The species are of easy culture in good free soil ; and, in Britain, generally 

 propagated by imported seeds, or grafting. The species appear to be in a 

 state of great confusion in British gardens ; and, judging from the trees in the 

 Hort. Soc. Garden, and in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, we should 

 conjecture that there are, probably, not more than two species, the American 

 and the Chinese. The Chinese species is distinguished by its trunk being 

 more spiny than its branches. 



^ 1. G. TKIACA'NTHOS Lin. The three-thorned Gieditschia, or Honey Locust. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1509. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 479. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 428. 



Synonymes. G. triacanthos var. <* polysperma Mart. Mitt. ; G. meliloba Walt. ; G. spinosa Du 

 Ham. ; .Acacia triacanthos Hort. ; Acacia americana Pluk. ; Fevier d'Amerique, Fr. ; Fava ame- 

 ricana, Ital. ; Thorny Acacia, Sweet Locust, United States ; Carouge a Miel Canada 



Engravings. Michx. fil. Arb., 2. p. 164. t. 10.; Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 138. ; the plates of this species 

 in Arb. Brit., 1st edit, vol. v. ; and our fig. 412. 



Spec. Char., $c. Spines simple or trifid ; stout, at the very base compressed, 

 in the upper part cylindrical, but tapered. Leaflets linear-oblong. Legumes 

 flatfish, rather crooked, many-seeded, and more than ten times as long as 

 broad. (Dec. Prod.) A large tree. Carolina and Virginia. Height 50 ft. 

 to 80 ft. Introduced in 1700. Flowers greenish ; June and July. Legume 

 brown ; ripe in October. Decaying leaves yellow. Naked young wood 

 purplish brown. 



% G. t. 2 inermis Dec., G. las v vis Hort. (Dec. Leg. Mem., 2. t. 22. fig. 109. ; 



Catesb. Carol., 1. t. 43.; Pluk. Aim., t. 123. fig. 3. ; and the plates of 



this variety in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. v.), has the stem and branches 



not spin} r , or but very sparingly so. 

 G. t. 3 brachycarpa. G. brachycarpa Pitrsh, G. triacanthos var. ft 



Michx. Leaflets oblong obtuse. Spines thick, short, not rarely 3 



together. Legumes oblong, short. 



The trunk and branches, when the tree is young, are covered with large 

 prickles, which, though they are not ligneous, become hard, and remain on for 

 several years, and offer a formidable defence. These prickles are not only 

 produced by the young wood, but occasionally protrude themselves from the 

 trunk, even when the tree is of considerable bulk and age. In general, the 

 trunk presents a twisted appearance, and the branches proceed from it rather 

 horizontally than in an upright direction. The pinnated foliage is particularly 

 elegant, and of an agreeable light shining green : it appears late in spring, the 

 trees in the neighbourhood of London sometimes not being fully clothed till 

 the middle or end of June; and it begins to turn yellow, and drop off, early 

 in autumn. The flowers are inconspicuous'; the male flowers being in the 

 form of catkin-like racemes of nearly the same colour as the leaves. Some 

 trees in the grounds at Syon have ripened seeds, the pods containing which, 

 being 1 ft. to 2ft. in length, and remaining on the trees after the leaves are off, 

 have a singular appearance. These crooked pendulous pods are of a reddish 



