608 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES. 



Legume linear-oblong, elongated, many-seeded, iridehiscent. 



Legume 12'-18' long, with pulp between the seeds; ovary hoary- tomentose. 



1. G. triacanthos (A,C). 



Legume 4'-5' long, without pulp between the seeds. 2. G. texana (C). 



Legume oval, oblique, 1-3-seeded, without pulp, tardily dehiscent; ovary glabrous. 



3. G. aquatica (A, C). 



1. Gleditsia triacanthos L. Honey Locust. 



Leaves 7'-8' long, 18-28-foliolulate or sometimes bipinnate, with 4-7 pairs of pinnae, 

 those of the upper pair 4'-5' long, when they unfold hoary-tomentose, and at maturity 

 pubescent on the petiole and rachis, the short stout petiolules, and the under surface of 

 the midrib of the oblong-lanceolate leaflets, unequal at base, acute or slightly rounded 



Fig. 557 



at apex, remotely crenulate-serrate, dark green and lustrous above, dull yellow-green 

 below, l'-l|' long and \' wide; turning in the autumn pale clear yellow. Flowers 

 appearing in June when the leaves are nearly fully grown from the axils of leaves of pre- 

 vious years; the staminate in short many-flowered pubescent racemes 2'-2' long and 

 often clustered; the pistillate in slender graceful few-flowered usually solitary racemes 

 %%'-& long; calyx campanulate, narrowed at base, the acute lobes thickened, revolute 

 and ciliate on the margins, villose with pale hairs, rather shorter than and half as wide as 

 the erect acute petals; filaments pilose toward the base; anthers green; pistil rarely of 2 

 carpels, hoary-tomentose. Fruit 12'-18' long, dark brown, pilose and slightly falcate, 

 with straight thickened margins, 2 or 3 together in short racemes on stalks l'-l|' long, 

 their walls thin and tough, contracting in drying by a number of corkscrew twists, and 

 falling late in the autumn or early in winter; seeds oval, ' long, separated by thick suc- 

 culent pulp. 



A tree, 75-140 high, with a trunk 2-3 or occasionally 5-6 in diameter, slender 

 spreading somewhat pendulous branches forming a broad open rather flat-topped head, 

 and branchlets marked by minute lenticels, at first light reddish brown and slightly puberu- 

 lous, soon becoming lustrous and red tinged with green, and in their second year greenish 

 brown and armed with stout rigid long-pointed simple or 3-forked spines at first red, and 

 bright chestnut-brown when fully grown, or rarely unarmed (var. inermis Pursh.). Bark 

 of the trunk \'-\' thick, divided by deep fissures into long narrow longitudinal ridges and 



