336 



CERCIS CERCOCARPUS 



6 ft. in girth. The flowers of the Judas-tree have a sweetish, acid taste, and 

 are used as an ingredient in salads. They open in May. 



Var. ALBA. Flowers pure white. 



Var. VARIEGATA. Leaves mottled green and white. 



The tree varies in the depth of shade of its flowers; a richly tinted one has 

 been called " carnea." 



CERCOCARPUS. 



ROSACES. 



Five or six species 

 of this curious genus 

 are known, all found in 

 Western N. America. 

 They are evergreen or 

 sub-evergreen shrubs and 

 small trees, with alternate 

 leaves and small axillary 

 flowers on short stalks, 

 either solitary or in few- 

 flowered clusters. They 

 have no petals, but a 

 five-lobed calyx, and nu- 

 merous (fifteen to thirty) 

 stamens. The most 

 distinctive feature of the 

 genus is the small, hard, 

 slender fruit, terminated 

 by the long, persistent 

 style, which is plumed 

 with long, white, silky 

 hairs. 



C. LEDIFOLIUS, 

 Nuttall. 



MOUNTAIN 

 MAHOGANY. 



A small, evergreen tree, 

 sometimes 40 ft. high, 

 or a shrub, similar to 

 C. parvifolius in flower 

 and fruit, but very distinct 

 in foliage. Young shoots 

 hairy ; leaf somewhat resi- 

 nous, lanceolate or narrow 



oblong, \ to i^ ins. long, \ to f in. wide ; dark green and becoming smooth 

 above, downy beneath, the margins entire and decurved; the midrib is pro- 

 minent, but the side veins are not conspicuous as in C. parvifolius. The fruit 

 is terminated by the silky, plume-like style, 2 to 3 ins. long, characteristic of 

 the genus. 



Native of Western N. America, from Oregon south to New Mexico. It is 



JUDAS TREK. CERCIS SILIQUASTRUM. 



