84 THE TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



contain a sweet pulp from which a very palatable 

 beer is made. This thorny tree has been occasionally 

 employed for hedges, but, in all the cases I have 

 seen, without success, the stocks having all run up 

 into trees, possibly from not having been kept down 

 by persevering attention to cutting in. 



Red Bud. (Cercis Canadensis, Linn.) — Common 

 over the United States, and found in the Lower and 

 Middle Districts of this, most abundantly in the 

 latter. It is from 15 to 25 feet high, but when the 

 main stock is cut generally shoots up into a cluster 

 of shrubs. As it blossoms early, before the develop- 

 ment of its leaves, and is covered with a profusion 

 of bright purplish-red flowers, it is a very striking 

 object in the forests in early Spring. 



Catalpa. (Catalpa bignonioides, Walt.) — This is 

 so common around settlements as to merit a passing 

 notice, though it is nowhere native in the Atlantic 

 States north of the Savannah River. Further south, 

 and at the West, it is not an uncommon forest tree 

 near rivers, especially those that empty into, the 

 Mississippi. 



Kentucky Coffee Tree. (Gymnocladus Cana- 

 densis, Lam.) — A native of the Western States, but 

 occasionally cultivated about houses as a handsome 

 shade-tree in our Middle District, and spontaneously 

 multiplying from the seeds. It has a general aspect 

 like that of Locust^ for which it is often mistaken. 

 The pods are thick-shelled, 6 to 10 inches long and 

 2 broad, containing seeds i inch broad. 



