Voi,. II.] 



SENNA FAMILY 



i. Gymnocladus dioica (I,.) Koch. 

 Kentucky Coffee-tree. (Fig. 2043.) 



GiMandina dioica L. Sp. PI. 381. 1753. 

 Gymnocladus Canadensis L,am. Encycl. i: '733. 



1783- 

 Gymnocladus dioicusTLoch, Dendrol. i: 5. 1869. 



A large forest tree, with rough bark, maxi- 

 mum height about 100, and trunk diameter 

 of 3. Leaves large, bipinnate, petioled; 

 pinnae 5-9, odd or evenly pinnate; leaflets 

 7-15 (or the lowest pair of pinnae of but a 

 single leaflet), ovate, acute or acuminate at 

 the apex, rounded at the base, glabrous or 

 pubescent on the veins beneath, ciliate on the 

 margins, \ f -$ f long; racemes many-flowered, 

 elongated; flowers nearly white, slender- 

 pedicelled, &"-<)" long; pod s'-io' long, 

 about 2' wide, the valves thick and coria- 

 ceous. 



Rich woods, southern Ontario to Pennsylvania, 

 Tennessee, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Indian 

 Territory. Wood soft, strong, light reddish- 

 brown; weight per cubic foot 43 Ibs. The fruit 

 called Coffee-nut. May-June. 



1829. 



Family 48. KRAMERIACEAE Dumort. Anal. Fam. 20. 



KRAMERIA FAMILY. 



Pubescent herbs, or low shrubs, with alternate simple or digitately 3-foliolate 

 leaves, and purple or purplish, solitary or racemed, irregular perfect flowers. 

 Peduncles 2-bracted at or above the middle. Stipules wanting. Sepals 4 or 5 , 

 usually large, the outer one commonly wider than the others. Petals usually 5, 

 smaller than the sepals, the 3 upper ones long-clawed, often united by their 

 claws, or the middle one of the 3 wanting, the 2 lower ones reduced to suborbi- 

 cular fleshy glands. Stamens 3 or 4, monadelphous, at least at the base; anther- 

 sacs opening by a terminal pore. Ovary i -celled, or partly 2 -celled; ovules 2, 

 collateral, anatropous, pendulous; style slender, acute or truncate. Fruit glo- 

 bose, or compressed, spiny, indehiscent, i-seeded. Seed without endosperm; 

 'cotyledons fleshy. 



The family consists of only the following genus, with about 15 species, distributed from the 

 southern United States to Chile. It has often been included in the POLYGALACEAE, but its close 

 affinity to Cassia and related genera indicates that it should be placed next to the CAESALPINACEAE. 



i. KRAMERIA Loefl. Iter Hisp. 195. 1758. 

 [In honor of Johaun Georg Heinrich Kramer, an Austrian physician of the last century.] 



w* * i. Krameria secundiflora DC. L,inear- 



leaved Krameria. (Fig. 2044.) 



Krameria secundiflora DC. Prodr. i: 341. 1824. 



A perennial appressed-pubescent herb from a 

 thick woody root, the stems prostrate or ascending, 

 branched, often i long or more. Leaves numer- 

 ous, linear, linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, ses- 

 sile, simple, entire, about i' long, ^ // -2 // wide, 

 acute, tipped with a minute prickle; peduncles soli- 

 tary, axillary, i-flowered, sometimes secund, as 

 long as the leaves, or shorter, bearing 2 leaf-like 

 bracts just below the flower; flowers about i' broad, 

 the sepals purple within, pubescent without; claws 

 of the 3 upper petals united; stamens 4, monadel- 

 phous; fruit globose, pubescent, very spiny, about 

 Yi' in diameter. 



Florida to Kansas, New Mexico and Mexico. April- 

 June. 



