166 LEGUMINOS^. Robieia. 



A tree seldom more than 40 or 50 feet liigli, but occasionally attaining a height of 90 feet. 

 The young plant is armed with very strong and sharp prickles, which disappear after the trunk 

 is 3 - 4 inches in diameter. The wood is compact, hard and very durable, generally of a 

 greenish-yellow color, but sometimes reddish or white. Leaflets in from 4 to 9 pairs, thin 

 and membranaceous, furnished with minute setaceous stipelles. Racemes 3-5 inches long : 

 pedicels one-third of an inch long. Flowers about as large as a pea-blossom, mostly resupi- 

 nate when fully expanded, white and fragrant. Lower tooth of the calyx subulate. Legume 

 2-3 inches long and half an inch wide, 4 - 6-seeded, rather obtuse. Seeds dark brown. 



Not indigenous in any part of the State, but common about houses, and cultivated for the 

 sale of its wood : almost naturalized in many places. Fl. May - June. Fr. September. 



The Locust is one of the most valuable trees of this or of any other country. Its wood 

 grows rapidly, and long resists decay, even under the most unfavorable circumstances. It is 

 chiefly used for posts, and underground structures. The most durable kind is that with a 

 reddish heart, and the white-heart variety is the least so. Its strength is as remarkable as its 

 durability, and hence it is employed in shipbuilding ; but it can hardly be obtained in sufficient 

 quantity, and of the requisite size, to be extensively used for this purpose. It answers ad- 

 mirably for trenails, or the pins by which the planks are fastened to the sides of the vessel. 

 In the Northern Stales, where the cultivation of the Locust has been attended to, great num- 

 bers of the trees have been destroyed by the grub of an insect that perforates the wood in 

 every direction, quite to the centre. The largest locust trees that I have noticed in New- 

 York, are those on the estate of J. P. Dewint, Esq. at Fishkill Landing, Dutchess county, 

 where they are about ninety feet in height. 



In the western part of the State, R. viscosa is almost naturalized in some places, being 

 used for hedge-fences. 



10. TEPHROSIA. Pers syn. 2. p. 328 ; Endl. gen. 6539. tephrosia. 



[ From the Greek, tephros, ash-colored ; in allusion to the color of the foliage.] 



Calyx without bracteoles, about equally 5-cleft or 5-toothed. Vexillum large, roundish, 

 spreading or reflexed, usually pubescent on the outside : keel obtuse, cohering with the 

 wings. Stamens monadelphous, or occasionally diadelphous ; the tenth filament sometimes 

 half united with the others. Style filiform : stigma obtuse, pubescent. Legume linear, 

 much compressed, many-seeded : valves usually flat. — Shrubby or herbaceous plants, 

 clothed with a silky villous pubescence. Leaves unequally pinnate. Stipules free from 

 the petiole, lanceolate or subulate, never sagittate. Flowers in racemes, white or purplish. 



