350 CLADRASTIS 



The true Cladrastis is readily distinguished from Maackia on account of 

 the swollen base of the leaf-stalks enclosing and hiding the buds; in 

 Maackia they are exposed; the flowers of Maackia, too, are arranged 

 closely in cylindrical racemes. The name Cladrastis is derived from the 

 Greek, and refers to the brittleness of the branches ; this is characteristic 

 of both the American and Chinese species, but not of Maackia. 



These two trees are best when raised from seeds, but failing them, 

 plants may be raised from root-cuttings. They both like a sound, loamy 

 soil and a sunny position. 



C. SINENSIS, Hemsley. CHINESE YELLOW WOOD. 



A deciduous tree, 50 ft. and upwards high in a wild state, whose swollen leaf- 

 bases enclose the buds as in C. tinctoria ; young shoots rusty-downy at the 

 base. Leaves composed of usually eleven or thirteen, sometimes seventeen 

 leaflets, which are alternate, 3 to 5 ins. long, i to i| ins. wide ; narrow oblong, 

 pointed, tapered or rounded at the base ; smooth above, rusty-downy on 

 the midrib, and glaucous beneath ; stalks downy. Flowers fragrant, blush 

 white, \ in. long, produced in large, pyramidal, terminal, erect panicles, 

 sometimes 12 ins. long and 9 ins. wide. Calyx covered with rusty coloured 

 down. Pod flattened, smooth, 2 to 3 ins. long, \ in. wide. 



Native of China, in the provinces of Szechuen and Hupeh, in the former 

 of which it was discovered in 1890 by Mr E. A. Pratt. It was subsequently 

 found in Hupeh by Wilson, and introduced by him for Messrs Veitch in 1901. 

 Plants in the Coombe Wood nursery and at Kew are now 7 ft. high, and 

 appear quite hardy, but have not yet flowered. This tree furnishes a remark- 

 able instance of geographical distribution. As is the case with Chionanthus, 

 Liriodendron, Gymnocladus, and Sassafras, a genus represented by a solitary 

 species in the New World and long known in gardens, is reinforced 

 by a species, also solitary, from the Old World. The leaves in cultivated 

 trees have, as yet, smaller but more numerous leaflets than those of wild 

 specimens. 



C. TINCTORIA, Rafinesque. YELLOW WOOD. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 7767 ; C. lutea, Koch ; Virgilia lutea, Michaux.} 



A tree occasionally 50 to 60 ft. high, when drawn up by other trees, but 

 usually 40 ft. or less in the open, with a wide-spreading, rounded head of 

 branches ; trunk and limbs pale, grey, and smooth ; branchlets not downy. 

 Leaves 8 to 12 ins. long, pinnate, composed of usually seven or nine (sometimes 

 five) leaflets, the base of their common stalk swollen and enclosing the bud ; 

 leaflets alternate, nearly or quite smooth when mature, broadly oval, ovate or 

 obovate, the terminal one the largest, and up to 4^ ins. long and 2| ins. wide ; 

 basal pair of leaflets down to \\ ins. long. Panicles terminal, 8 to 14 ins. long, 

 4 to 6 ins. wide at the base, pendulous. Flowers white, I to ij ins. long, 

 produced on stalks scarcely half as long, slightly fragrant ; standard petal 

 \ to f in. across, reflexed, with a pale yellow blotch at the base. Calyx 

 bell-shaped, f in. long, with five blunt teeth, and covered (like the flower- 

 stalk) with minute down. Pod 3 to 4 ins. long, ^ in. wide, flat, with four to 

 six seeds. 



Native of the south-east United States, most plentiful in Tennessee, 

 although nowhere very common; introduced in 1812. This interesting tree 

 does not flower regularly in this country, but is very distinct and hand- 

 some in its foliage, which turns bright yellow before falling, and in summer 

 is of a beautifully vivid green and luxuriant aspect. The timber is hard, 



