The Pod-bearers 







4. Genus ROBINIA, Linn. 



Trees of the genus Robinia have slender, angled branchlets 

 usually set with paired prickles which are the spiny stipules of 

 leaves, past or present. The leaves are once compound, and 

 have the habit of closing and drooping when night comes or when 

 rain begins to fall. The pea-like blossoms are in showy clusters; 

 the pods are thin valved, opening when ripe, but slow to fall 

 from the tree. 



Four species belong to the United States; of these three are 

 arbourescent. Three more occur in Mexico. Other countries 

 are without native species, so they borrow of us. Streets, parks 

 and gardens, in various parts of Europe, are planted with our 

 black locust. The genus contains one of the good lumber trees 

 of this country, and some of our handsomest flowering trees. 



Locust, Yellow Locust, Black Locust (Rohinia Pseiida- 

 cacia, Linn.) A tall, slender tree, 40 to 80 feet high, with erect 

 branches forming an oblong head. Bark rough, dark grey, deeply 

 furrowed; twigs smooth, silvery, downy, becoming reddish brown. 

 Wood brownish yellow, hard, coarse grained, heavy, strong, 

 very durable in contact with soil. Buds pointed, silky, all but 

 tip hidden. Leaves 8 to 14 inches long, alternate, odd-pinnate of 

 9 to 19 leaflets, silvery, downy when young, later, pale beneath, 

 dark green above, turning yellow in early autumn. Stipules in 

 pairs, spiny, persistent, becoming thorny. Flowers, May to June, 

 in axillary, drooping racemes, white, fragrant, pea-like, of good 

 size. Fruit thin, brown, smooth, 4 to 8-seeded pods, hanging 

 on through the winter. Preferred habitat, gravelly soil on mountain 

 slopes. Distribution, Pennsylvania to Georgia, west to Iowa and 

 Oklahoma. Naturalised in New York, New England, and v^est 

 of Rocky Mountains. Uses: Planted as a shade and ornamental 

 tree. Wood exceptionally durable and strong. Used in ship- 

 building, for mill cogs, posts, ties, wagon hubs and spokes, 

 and especially for tree nails. Excellent fuel. Bark has tonic 

 properties. 



The locust is a beautiful tree in its youth, and being a rapid 

 grower, becomes sturdy and spreading in a few years. But its 

 twigs and branches are brittle, the wind breaks them, and the 

 symmetry of the crown is soon lost. An old locust is a dead, 

 scraggly-looking object for half the year. Coarse, ragged bark 



339 



