386 TREES IN WINTER 



YELLOW WOOD 



Virgilia, Gopher Wood. 

 Cladrastis lutea (Mx. f.) Koch. 



HABIT — A small tree under 50 ft. in height with trunk diameter of 

 1-2 ft.; trunk generally dividing low down into several slightly 

 spreading limbs with numerous slender more or less zigzag branches, 

 the lower often strongly declined, forming a broad rounded head. 



BARK — Thin, gray to light brown, in general smooth, resembling 

 bark of the Beech with slight protuberances or ridges and horizontal 

 wrinkles. 



TAVIGS — Rather slender, more or less zigzag, brittle, smooth bright 

 reddish-brown, covered often by a grayish skin, odor and taste resembl- 

 ing that of a raw dried pea or bean, LENTICELS — pale, scattered, 

 generally conspicuous. PITH — wide, white, round in section. 



LEAF-SCARS — Alternate, 2-ranked, or more than 2-ranked, raised, 

 pale yellow, forming a V-shaped collar of almost uniform diameter 

 nearly encircling the bud. STIPULE-SCARS — absent. BUNDLE-SCARS 

 — typically 5 (4-9) generally regularly spaced and raised or at times 

 some of the five indistinct or lacking. 



1*UDS — Terminal bud absent, lateral buds naked, superposed, 3-4, 

 the uppermost the largest and generally alone developing, flattened, 

 closely packed together to form a pointed bud-like hairy cone generally 

 under 5 mm. long, nearly surrounded by the leaf-scar. BUD-SCALES — • 

 absent, their place taken by the densely hairy immature leaves. 



FRUIT — A smooth flat margined pod 5-10 cm. long, containing a few 

 small oblong compressed seeds. 



COMPARISONS — The ' Yellow Wood is well characterized by its 

 beech-like bark, its slender twigs, and its superposed hairy buds closely 

 clustered into a bud-like cone and practically surrounded by the leaf- 

 scar and is therefore scarcely to be confused with any other tree. 



DISTRIBUTION — In rich soil, limestone ridges and often along 

 mountain streams, rare and local. Western North Carolina, Kentucky, 

 Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri; often cultivated in New England as an 

 ornamental tree. 



"WOOD — Heavy, very hard, strong and close-grained, with a smooth, 

 satiny surface, bright, clear yellow changing to light brown on ex- 

 posure, with thin nearly white sapwood; used for fuel, occasionally for 

 gun stocks and yielding a clear yellow dye. 



