The Pod-bearers 



The virgilia has no bad habits; it is hardy in the dimate of 

 Boston; it thrives in many different soils; it is easily propagated 

 by seeds or root cuttings; it is a handsome lawn or park tree at any 

 season of the year, it ought to be in gardens up and down the 

 land — increasingly planted wherever a beautiful native tree is 

 desired and appreciated. 



Some Little-known Pod-bearers 



Brief mention may be made here of a number of relatives of 

 our locust trees which are little known because they are restricted 

 to small areas distant from the Eastern States whose forests we 

 know som.ewhat better than those of other sections of this great 

 continent. They are omitted from the key to avoid making it too 

 complex for easy use. 



The Horse Bean, or Retama {Parkinsonia aculeaia, Linn.), 

 native to the valleys of the lower Rio Grande and the Colorado, is 

 a small, graceful tree with drooping branches, which are clothed 

 with strong spines, long leaf stems set with many pairs of tiny 

 leaflets, and bright yellow, fragrant perennial flowers. In the 

 tropics the tree is ever-blooming. In Texas it rests only in 

 midwinter. The pods are long, and constricted between the 

 seeds. As an ornamental hedge plant this tree has no equal in 

 the Southwest. 



The Small -leaf Horse Bean {Parkinsonia microphylla, 

 Torr.) has its leaf stems as well as leaflets much reduced. It 

 grows in complexly gnarled form in the deserts of Arizona and 

 California. The yellow flowers are much smaller than those of 

 the preceding species; the few-seeded beaked pods, larger. This 

 little tree or shrub has its branches sharpened into stout thorns, 

 which have green bark. 



The Cat's Claw {Zigia Unguis-cati, Sudw.), of southern 

 Florida, has persistent, twice pinnate leaves, each division bearing 

 but two leaflets. A pair of spines guards the base of each leaf. 

 The flowers are in compound panicles; the pods long, thin, and 

 contorted in ripening. The shape of the petals is described by the 

 tree's name. 



The Texan Ebony (Zigia flexicaule, Sudw.), of southern 

 Texas and Mexico, is a beautiful, acacia-like tree, with feathery 

 leaves, racemed, creamy, fragrant flowers and large, woody pods, 



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