876 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



filiform, exserted, slightly enlarged, 2-lobed and stigmatic at apex; ovules numerous, in- 

 serted in 2 ranks on a thin 2-lipped placenta longitudinally adnate to the inner face of the 

 cell. Fruit a subglobose obscurely 2-lobed 2-celled capsule, loculicidally 2-valved, the 

 valves thin and papery, light brown, puberulous, especially at the base, faintly rayed, 

 marked by oblong pale spots and by the scars left by the falling of the deciduous calyx- 

 limb and style, sometimes tardily septicidally 2-parted to the middle, persistent on the 

 branches during the winter, the valves finally falling from the woody axis, their outer layer 

 very thin, brittle, separable from the slightly thicker tough woody inner layer. Seeds 

 horizontal, 2-ranked, minute, compressed; seed-coat thin, light brown, reticulate- veined, 

 produced into a broad thin oblong-ovate wing, unsymmetrical on the sides, acute at apex, 

 and longer above than below the seed; embryo elongated, immersed in the thick fleshy 

 albumen; cotyledons ovate-oblong, foliaceous, longer than the terete radicle turned toward 

 the hilum. 



The genus is represented by a single species of the southeastern United States. 



The generic name is in honor of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1825) of South 

 Carolina, the Revolutionary patriot. 



1. Pinckneya pubens Michx. Georgia Bark. 



Leaves unfolding in March, 5 '-8' long, 3'-4' wide; petioles f'-l^' in length. Flowers 1^' 

 long appearing late in May and early in June, in open clusters 7'-8' across, their petaloid 



Fig. 771 



calyx-lobes sometimes 2|' long and |' wide. Fruit ripening in the autumn 1' long and ' 

 wide; seeds with their wings about \' long and \' wide. 



A tree, 20-30 high, with a trunk occasionally 8'-10' in diameter, slender spreading 

 branches forming usually a narrow round-topped head, and branchlets coated w y hen they 

 first appear w r ith hoary tomentum soon turning light red-brown, pubescent during the 

 summer, and slightly puberulous during their first winter, ultimately becoming glabrous. 

 Winter-buds : terminal ovoid, terete, \' long, contracted above the middle into a slender 

 point, and covered by the dark red-brown lanceolate, acute stipules of the last pair of 

 leaves of the previous year, often persistent at the base of the growing shoots and marked 

 at the base by 2 broadly ovate pale scar-like slightly pilose elevations; axillary buds 

 obtuse, minute, nearly immersed in the bark. Bark of the trunk about \' thick, with a 

 light brown surface divided into minute appressed scales. Wood close-grained, soft, 

 weak, brow r n, with lighter-colored sapwood of 8-10 layers of annual growth. The bark has 

 been used in the treatment of intermittent fevers. 



