594 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



pinnue on slender stalks ] , ' in length, with 5-7 pairs of oblong leaflets rounded and apiculate 

 at apex, obliquely rounded at base, short-petiolulate, pointing forward, when they unfold 

 densely villose above and on the margins, and hoary-tomentose below, becoming glabrous, 

 gray-green rather darker above than below, f ' long. Flowers subsessile, puberulous, in 

 interrupted spikes, f'-T in length, densely hoary-tomentose when they first appear late 

 in March, on villose peduncles !'-!' in length, and furnished near the apex with lanceolate 

 caducous bracts; calyx about half the length of the ovate acute petals ciliate on the mar- 

 gins, about iV long and much shorter than the stamens; ovary stipitate, glabrous. Fruit 

 fully grown in July, stipitate much compressed, rounded and sometimes slightly emar- 

 ginate at apex, gradually narrowed and obliquely cuneate at base, with much thickened 

 revolute undulate margins, densely pubescent early in the season, becoming puberulous, 







Fig. 544 



5' or 6 long, li'-lf wide and many-seeded, or nearly orbicular and 1 or 2-seeded; seeds 

 in one series, oval, the two sides unsymmetric, obliquely pointed at base, rounded at apex, 

 compressed, dark chestnut-brown and lustrous, \' long and \' wide. 



A tree, sometimes 25 high, usually smaller, with slender red-brown branchlets pubes- 

 cent or puberulous when they first appear, becoming glabrous in their second year, and 

 armed with small curved stipular spines; often a shrub. 



Distribution. Texas; creek banks and canons, near Montell and Uvalde, Uvalde 

 County, and rocky banks of Devil's River, Valverde County (E. J. Palmer). 



i. Acacia Wrightii Benth. Cat's Claw. 



Leaves l'-2' long, slightly pubescent, especially on the petiole and rachis, with 1-3 

 pairs of pinnae, slender petioles l' in length, and eglandular or glandular with small 

 convex glands, and linear acute caducous stipules T V long; pinnae short-stalked, with 2-5 

 pairs of obovate-oblong leaflets, obliquely rounded and often apiculate at apex, sessile or 

 short-petiolulate, 2 or sometimes 3-nerved, glabrous, or rarely pubescent, reticulate- 

 veined, rigid, bright green and rather paler on the low r er surface than on the upper surface, 

 %'-' long. Flowers light yellow, fragrant, appearing from the end of March to the end 

 of May, on slender pubescent pedicels from the axils of minute caducous bracts, in nar- 

 row spikes 1|' long, often interrupted below the middle, on slender fascicled pubescent 

 or sometimes glabrous peduncles; calyx obscurely 5-lobed, pubescent on the outer sur- 

 face, half as long as the spatulate petals slightly united at base, and ciliate on the margins; 

 stamens \' long; ovary long-stalked, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit fully grown 



