2 74 THE PEA FAMILY. 



clawed, broad, reflexed and emarginate at the apex. Wings : oblong. Keel : in- 

 curved. Stanieiis : diadelphous, nine and one. /^t?^/ ; linear, tonientose. Leaves: 

 compound with long petioles enlarged at their bases ; odd-pinnate, with from nine 

 to fifteen oblong, or lanceolate leaflets, bluntly pointed at the apex and mostly 

 rounded at the base ; entire ; usually slightly covered underneath as are the 

 petiolules with silky pubescence. A woody vine becoming forty or fifty feet 

 long. 



As this, one of the most beautiful of our native vines, is seen climbing 

 over high trees and other forms of growth, it transforms truly the low 

 grounds and swamps into bowers of fragrant loveliness ; and on some warm 

 day in April when there is a feverish desire to blossom among the Httle 

 plants, it overhangs them in masses and supplants all their efforts to be 

 gay, while also attracting to itself many more than its share of humble bee 

 lovers. All about their ceaseless hum is heard as they alight now here, 

 now there among the flowers. When a little petted and coaxed in cultiva- 

 tion the wistaria's bunches of flowers greatly increase in size and beauty 

 over those of the wild ones. In Japan similar vines are much regarded for 

 decorative effects and the purple one as may seem strange to us is exalted 

 in rank high above the white variety. 



LOCUST TREE. YELLOW OR BLACK LOCUST. 

 FALSE ACACIA. 



Robinia Pseudacaci'a. 



Bark : reddish brown; rough and broken in ridges. Stipules: linear and later 

 often developing into spines. Leaves : compound, with leaf-stalks hollowed at their 

 bases and covering the buds of the succeeding year; odd-pinnate with from eleven 

 to twenty-five oval leaflets, rounded at both ends and occasionally tipped with the 

 midrib ; entire ; netted-veined ; glabrous, or when unfolding sometimes sprinkled 

 with a silvery pubescence. Flcnvers : white; fragrant; growing in loose, axillary 

 racemes. Calyx: five-toothed. Corolla: showy; papilionaceous, the standard 

 spotted with yellow at the base. Legumes : linear ; glabrous and containing from 

 four to seven seeds. 



Even those with an obscure sense of beauty must find something almost 

 intoxicating in the calm, early summer air heavy with the scent of this tree's 

 milk-white blossoms ; and in its graceful form which shows so high a type 

 of beauty among our deciduous-leaved trees. Long ago it was foretold that 

 it would eventually become more common in Europe than in its native land. 

 And this is now possibly true, for in Europe it is well naturalized. In 

 northeastern America although also at home and very general it is so 

 preyed on by insects that it is almost impossible to protect it from their 

 ravages. In few places, even in the primeval forest, is its timber free from 

 their destruction. And in such places where abundantly it thrives on the 



