552 



Kentucky Yellow Wood 



fleshy, black and shining, 8 cm. long or much less, deeply constricted between 

 the seeds, which have a thin layer of endosperm. 



It is also known under the names Pink locust and Bearded locust. 



The wood is very hard and strong, close-grained and Ught red; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.85. 



II. KENTUCKY YELLOW WOOD 



GENUS CLADRASTIS RAFINESQUE 

 Species Cladrastis lutea (Michaux) K. Koch 

 Virgilia lutea Michaux. Cladrastis tinctoria Rafinesque 



ENTUCKY YELLOW WOOD is an interesting and ornamental tree, 

 native of the southeastern States, from western North Carolina through 

 Tennessee and Kentucky to Missouri ; it prefers rich valley soil and is 

 quite local in distribution, attaining a maximum height of about 20 

 meters, with a trunk 6 or 7 dm. thick. It is a monotype, no other species of Cla- 

 drastis being known; its Manchurian relative, sometimes known as Cladrastis 

 amurensis Bentham, belonging to the similar genus Maackia (Maackia amurensis 

 Ruprecht and Maximo wicz). 



The bark is thick, brown or brownish, nearly smooth. The young twigs are 



greenish brown, slender, somewhat drooping, 

 at first a Uttle hairy, but soon smooth, brown 

 and shining; the winter buds are small, ob- 

 long, blunt, brown-hairy, borne 4 together 

 and enclosed in the base of the leaf-stalk. 

 The odd-pinnate, deciduous stalked leaves 

 have neither stipules nor stipels; the 5 to 11 

 leaflets are thin, short-stalked, ovate, oval or 

 obovate, 10 cm. long or less, pointed at the 

 apex, blunt, narrowed or wedge-shaped at the 

 base, entire-margined, finely hairy when 

 young, smooth or but sHghtly hairy on the 

 under side when mature, the upper surface 

 bright green, the under side paler. The 

 numerous showy white flowers are in large 

 terminal drooping panicles, and appear in 

 May or June; the slender flower-stalks are i 

 cm. long or more; the slightly hairy calyx is narrowly bell-shaped with 5 short 

 and broad rounded teeth; the corolla is about 2 cm. long, the standard orbicular, 

 the wings and keel- petals oblong; the 10 stamens are separate, with slender fila- 

 ments and versatile anthers; the ovary is hnear, short-stalked, long-hairy and 

 contains several ovules, and is tipped by the incurved style. The pod is Knear, 



Fig. 510. Kentucky Yellow Wood. 



