178 TREES 



their showy, pea-like blossoms in full clusters, and their 

 compound leaves, that have the habit of drooping and 

 folding shut their paired leaflets when night comes on, or 

 when rain begins to fall. The pods are thin and small, 

 splitting early, but hanging late on the twigs. 



The Black Locust 



Robinia Pseudacacia, Linn. 



The black or yellow locust is a beautiful tree in its youth, 

 with smooth dark rind and slender trunk, holding up a 

 loose roundish head of dark green foliage. Each leaf is 

 eight to fourteen inches long, of nine to nineteen leaflets, 

 silvery when they unfold, and always paler beneath. In 

 late May, the tree-top bursts into bloom that is often so 

 profuse as to whiten the whole mass of the dainty foliage. 

 The nectar-laden, white flowers have the characteristic 

 "butterfly" form, the banner, wings, and keel of the type 

 pease-blossom. {See illustration, "page 198). The bees 

 lead the insect host that swarms about them as long as a 

 locust flower remains to offer sweets to the probing 

 tongues. Cross-fertilization is the advantage the tree 

 gains for all it gives. The crop of seeds is sure. 



The angled twigs of the black locust break easily in 

 windy weather. The rapid groT\i:h of the limbs spreads the 

 narrow head, and its symmetry is soon destroyed, unless 

 the tree grows in a sheltered situation. An old locust is 

 usually an ugly, broken specimen, ragged-looking for three- 

 fourths of the year. The twigs look dead, because their 

 winter buds are buried out of sight! The bark is dull, 

 deeply cut into irregular, interlacing furrows, roughened 

 by scales and shreds on the ridges. In winter the pods 



