LEGUMINOS.E 589 



oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, reticulate-veined, thin or subcoriaceous, glabrous, dark 

 green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, ?'- |' long; petiolules 

 short and broad. Flowers light yellow or cream color, very fragrant, sessile in the axils 

 of minute caducous bracts, appearing from June until August, in cylindric dense or 

 interrupted spikes If long, on stout pubescent peduncles fascicled in the axils of the 

 upper leaves of the previous year; corolla four or five times as long as the calyx and like 

 it puberulous on the outer surface, and about as long as the tube formed by the union of 

 the filaments; stamens |' long; ovary glabrous, sessile. Fruit ripening in the autumn and 

 remaining on the branches until after the flowering season of the following year, sessile, 

 tardily dehiscent, thick, straight or slightly falcate, oblique at base, rounded and con- 

 tracted into a short broad point at apex, pubescent, 4'-6' long and I'-l^' wide, with thick 



Fig. 540 



woody valves lined with a thick pithy substance inclosing and separating the seeds; seeds 

 suspended on a very short straight funicle, bright red-brown, f ' long and |' wide, irregularly 

 obovoid, faintly marked by short oblong depressions; seed-coat thick, crustaceous. 



A tree, 20-30 high, with a straight trunk 2-3 in diameter, separating 8-10 from 

 the ground into short spreading branches forming a wide round head, and stout zigzag 

 branchlets, puberulous, light green or dark reddish brown when they first appear, becom- 

 ing in their second year glabrous or rarely puberulous, dark reddish brown or light gray, 

 and armed with the persistent stipular pale chestnut-brown spines \'-\' long. Wood 

 exceedingly heavy, hard, compact, close-grained, dark rich red-brown slightly tinged with 

 purple, with thin clear bright yellow sapwood; almost indestructible in contact with the 

 ground and largely used for fence-posts; valued by cabinet-makers and for fuel, and con- 

 sidered more valuable than tnat of any other tree of the lower Rio Grande valley. The seeds 

 are palatable and nutritious, and are boiled when green or roasted when ripe by the Mexi- 

 cans, who use their thick shells as a substitute for coffee. 



Distribution. Shores of Matagorda Bay, Texas, to the Sierra Nevada of Nuevo Leon, 

 and in Lower California; common on the bluffs of the Gulf-coast and on both banks of 

 the lower Rio Grande; south of the Rio Grande one of the commonest and most beautiful 

 trees of the region. 



2. LYS1LOMA Benth. 



Trees or shrubs, with slender unarmed branchlets, abruptly bipinnate long-petiolate 

 persistent leaves, their petioles marked by large conspicuous glands, and small leaflets 

 in many pairs; stipules large, membranaceous, persistent or deciduous. Flowers perfect 



