

CHAP. XLI. LEGUMINA N CEJE. GYMNO'cLADUS. 657 



Properties and Uses. The wood is very hard and compact ; it is also 

 strong and tough, and of a fine rose colour. In America, it is used both in 

 cabinet-making and carpentry, and, like the wood of the robinia, it has the 

 remarkable property of rapidly converting its sap-wood into heart-wood ; so 

 that a trunk 6 in. in diameter has not more than six lines of sap-wood, and 

 may, consequently, be almost" entirely employed for useful purposes. The 

 seeds were, at one time, roasted and ground as a substitute for coffee in 

 Kentucky and Tennessee; but their use in this way has been long since dis- 

 continued. The pods, preserved like those of the tamarind (to which this 

 genus is nearly allied), are said to be wholesome, and slightly aperient. The 

 live bark is extremely bitter ; so that a morsel, no bigger than a grain of 

 maize, chewed for some time, causes a violent irritation in the throat. In 

 Britain, the only use of the tree is for ornamental purposes ; and, considered 

 as an object of curiosity and beauty, no collection ought to be without it. 



Soil, Situation, Propagation, fyc. A rich, deep, free soil is essential to the 

 thriving of this tree ; and such a soil is never met with naturally in exposed 

 situations. The tree is generally propagated by imported seeds ; but it will 

 grow freely from cuttings of the roots, care being taken in planting to keep 

 that end upwards which is naturally so. 



Statistics. Gymndcladus canadensis in England. In the environs of London, at Whitton, 87 years 

 planted, and 60 ft. high ; at Syon, 54 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 18 in. and of the head 39 ft. (see 

 our plate of this tree in Vol. II.) ; in the Mile End Nursery, 35ft. ; at Kenwood, 25 years planted, and 

 20ft. high. South of London. In Kent, at Cobham Hall, 25 years planted, and 20ft high. In Surrey, 

 at St Anne's Hill, 30 years planted, and 45ft. high; at Claremont, 45ft. high, the diameter of the 

 trunk 18 in., and of the head 35 ft. ; at Walton, 42 years planted, and 50 ft. high, diameter of the 

 trunk 18 in., and of the head 33ft. ; at Farnham Castle, 45 years planted, and 25ft. high, the diameter 

 of the trunk 12 in., in poor soil on chalk. North of London. In Cheshire, at Kinmel Park, 5 years 

 planted, and 5 ft high. In Hertfordshire, at Cheshunt, 7 years planted, and 12ft. high. In Oxford- 

 shire, in the Oxford Botanic Garden, 40 years planted, and 35 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 

 2 in., and of the head 15 ft. In Worcestershire, at Croome, 40 years planted, and 60 ft. high, diameter 

 of the trunk 18 in., and of the head 30 ft 



Gymndcladus canadensis in Scotland. In the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 15 ft. high ; in Law- 

 son's Nursery, 10 years planted, and 6 ft. high; in the Glasgow Botanic Garden, 12 years planted, 

 and 13ft. hig'h ; in the Perth Nursery, 12ft. high. 



Gymnocladus canadensis in Ireland. In the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, 25 years planted, and 24 ft. 

 high, diameter of the trunk 6 in., and of the head 7 ft. ; at Terenure, 20 years planted, and 15 ft. high ; 

 in the Cullenswood Nursery, 10 years planted, and 15 ft. high. 



Gymn6cladus canadensis in Foreign Countries. In France, at Paris, in the Jardin des Plantes, 60 

 years planted, and 55 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 20 in., and of the head 40 ft ; at Sc<?aux, 18 

 years planted, and 30ft high ; in the Botanic Garden at Toulon, 20 years planted, and 25ft. high ; in 

 the Botanic Garden at Metz, 32 years planted, and 40 ft. high; at Colombier, near Metz, 60 years 

 planted, and 65ft. high. In Austria, at Vienna, 13 years planted, and 30 ft. high. In Prussia, at 

 Berlin, at Sans Souci, 30 years planted, and 30ft. high ; in the Pfauen Insel, 8 years planted, and 

 22 ft. high. In Hanover, in the Botanic Garden at Gottingen, 25 years planted, and 30 ft. high. In 

 Italy, at Monza, 29 years planted, and 40ft. high. 



Commercial Statistics. Plants in the London nurseries are 2*. Qd. each ; at 

 Bollwyller, 1 franc and 50 cents ; and at New York, 50 cents. 



GENUS XXII. 



rE'RCIS L. THE JUDAS TREE. Lin. Syst. Decandria Monog^nia. 



I<t<-ntification. Lin. Gen., No. 510. ; Lam. 111., t. 328. ; Gaert. Fruct, 1. 144. ; Dec. Prod, 2. p. 518. ; 



Don's Mill., 2. p. 463. 



Synonymcs. .Viliquastrum Town. Inst., t.414. ; Mocnch Meth. ; Gainier Fr. ; Judasbaum, Ger. 

 Derivation. From kerkis, a shuttlecock, the name given by Theophrastus to this tree. 



Description, #c. Leaves simple, heart-shaped at the base, many-nerved, 

 entire, protruded after the flowers ; these borne in groups, each on a pedicel 

 proceeding directly from the trunk or branches. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 518.) 

 Deciduous trees of the third rank, or shrubs, natives of Europe, or North 

 America. 



1. C. SILIQUA'STRUM L. The common Judas Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 534. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 518. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 463. 



Synonymes. Siliquaatrum orbiculatum Mccnch Meth. ; Love Tree; Gainier commuiij Arbre de Jud^e, 



Fr. ; Arbol d' Amor, Span. ; JudMbcum, Ger. 

 Engravings. N. I)u Ham., t. 7. ; Bot. Mag., t. 1138. ; Mill. Icon., 253. ; and the plates of this si,ecic< 



in Vol. II. 



Y V 2 



