The Pod-bearers 



not quite so large as those of honey locust. These pods are 

 cooked and eaten when half grown. The ripe pods are roasted, 

 and ground to make a substitute for coffee. The wood is valuable 

 in fine cabinet work, and for posts and fuel. It deserves the 

 attention of gardeners and foresters in all warm temperate 

 countries. Professor Sargent considers it the most valuable 

 ornamental tree native to Texas. 



The Huisache, or Cassia {Acacia Farnesiana, Willd.), 

 belongs to a great tropical suborder of the pod-bearers which 

 is widely distributed over the earth. The valuable blackwood 

 of Australia belongs to it and Acacia Arabica, of Egypt and 

 southern Asia, which yields the bulk of the gum arabic of com- 

 merce. Valuable timber, tan barks, dyes, perfumes and drugs 

 are yielded by acacias. As ornamentals, the trees rank very high. 



The huisache grows wild in the Rio Grande Valley, and has 

 become established in Florida and the other Gulf States, having 

 escaped from cultivation. It is a small, spiny tree, with graceful, 

 spreading branches, and pendulous twigs covered with feathery 

 twice pinnate leaVes. The flowers are numerous, bright yellow, 

 in heads, and very fragrant. The thick pods contain two rows 

 of flattened seeds. In Italy this species is cultivated for its 

 flowers, which are used in the making of perfumes. It is culti- 

 vated in gardens the world over, and has generally established 

 itself in the warmer parts of every continent. It yields tannin, 

 gums and valuable lumber. 



The Cat's Claw {Acacia Wrightii, Benth.), of western 

 Texas, is less graceful than the huisache, and more often seen 

 as a shrub. The yellow flowers are borne in finger-like close 

 racemes. The pods are large, flat and irregular, with small, oval 

 seeds. The leaves are twice pinnate; the spines, short and 

 recurved. 



The Cat's Claw {Acacia Greggii, Gray), of the region from 

 western Texas to California, differs from A. IVrighiii in having 

 its pods twisted, and its seeds larger and circular in outline. 



The Frijolito, or Coral Bean {Sophora secundiflora, DC.), 

 is a small, slender, narrow-headed tree, with persistent, locust-like 

 leaves, and fragrant, violet-blue flowers in small, one-sided 

 racemes. The pods are silky white, pencil-like, and the seeds are 

 bright scarlet. The tree grows wild in cafions in southern Texas 

 and in New Mexico, and is highly recommended by Professor 



344 



J, 



