592 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



Legume l'-lj' wide, straight or slightly contracted between the seeds, not becoming 

 twisted and contorted at maturity ; seeds narrow -obovoidor ovoid ; leaflets green, 

 glabrous, with prominent veinlets. 4. A. Wrightii (E). 



Legume I'-f' wide, often conspicuously contracted between the seeds, becoming twist- 

 ed and contorted at maturity; seeds nearly orbicular; leaflets blue-green, pubes- 

 cent, with obscure veinlets. 5. A. Greggii (E, G, H). 



1. Acacia Farnesiana Willd. Huisache. Cassie. 



Leaves 2'-4' long, with 2-8, usually 4 or 5, pairs of pinnae, generally somewhat puberu- 

 IQUS on the short petiole and rachis; in Texas mostly falling at the beginning of winter; 

 pinnae sessile or short-stalked, remote or close together, with 10-25 pairs of linear acute 



Fig. 542 



leaflets tipped with a minute point, unequal at base, sessile or short-petiolulate, glabrous 

 or puberulous, bright green, i'~i' l n g- Flowers bright yellow, very fragrant, iV long, 

 opening during the summer and autumn from the axils of minute clavate pilose bractlets, 

 in heads f ' in diameter, on axillary thin puberulous peduncles, solitary or most often 2 or 

 3 together and !'-!' in length, with two minute dentate connate bracts forming an in- 

 volucral cup immediately under the flower-head; calyx about half as long as the petals and 

 like them somewhat pilose on the outer surface; stamens two or three times as long as the 

 corolla; ovary short-stipitate, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit oblong, cylindric or 

 spindle-shaped, thick, turgid, straight or curved, slightly contracted between the seeds, 

 short-stalked, narrowed at apex into a short thick point, 2'-3' long, \'-\' broad, dark 

 red-purple, lustrous, and marked by broad light-colored bands along the thickened grooved 

 sutures, the outer coat of the walls thin and papery, inclosing a thick pithy pulp-like 

 substance surrounding the seeds, each in a separate thin-walled compartment; seeds 

 ovoid, thick, flattened on the inner surface by mutual pressure, \' long, suspended trans- 

 versely in 2 ranks on a short straight funicle, light brown, lustrous, and faintly marked by 

 large oval rings. 



A tree, 20-30 high, with a straight trunk 12'-18 / in diameter, separating 6-8 from 

 the ground into numerous long pendulous branches forming a wide round spreading head, 

 and slender terete or slightly striate angled branchlets, glabrous or at first puberulous, and 

 armed with straight rigid terete spines developed from the persistent stipules and some- 

 times H' long. Bark of the trunk thin, reddish brown, irregularly broken by long reticu- 

 lated ridges, exfoliating in large thin scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich red- 

 dish brown, with thin pale sapwood; in India used for the knees of small vessels and in 

 agricultural implements. 



