ADDISONIA 5 
(Plate 3) 
ROBINIA KELSEYI 
Kelsey’s Locust 
Native of North Carolina 
Family FABACEAE PgA Family 
Robinia Kelseyi Cowell, Cycl. Am. Hort, 1538. 1902. 
A compact spreading shrub up to six feet or more tall, with 
rather dark green foliage and rose-purple flowers. ‘The leaves are 
pinnate, three to six inches long, the rachis sparingly hairy, grooved 
on the upper surface, with subulate pubescent i on The 
leaflets are usually nine to eleven, glabrous, with prominent vena- 
tion beneath when mature, elliptic to or Setar sterraran rather 
firm, the stalks one eighth of an inch long or less, sparingly pubes- 
cent, the blade three quarters of an inch to one and a half inches 
long, one quarter to five eighths of an inch wide, acute and apicu- 
late at the apex, usually rounded at the base. he racemes con- 
sist commonly of four to six flowers and are one and a half to three 
inches long, with the rachis glandular-hairy. The flowers are 
rscre three quarters of an inch long, on ae -hairy pedicels 
ch are less than one quarter of an inch long. The calyx is 
andular-hairy outside and soft-hairy within, pa has a campanu- 
late tube a little over an eighth of an inch long, with the triangular- 
subulate teeth, which are nearly equal in length, an eighth of an 
inch long or a little more, very acute. The corolla is rose-purple, 
the standard orbicular, up to an inch in diameter, the wings elliptic- 
oblong, less than an inch long, the keel three quarters of an inch 
long or less. The staminal tube is glabrous. The ovary is glandu- 
ar-hairy, the style curved, hairy at the apex. The fruit is oblong- 
linear, one and a half to two and a half inches long and up to five 
eighths of an inch wide over all, densely bristly with glandular 
hairs 
This is related to Robinia hispida L., a species distributed from 
Virginia and Kentucky to Georgia and Alabama. It differs in the 
more compact habit, the absence of glandular hairs on the leaf- 
rachis (a character conspicuous in the other species), the narrower 
leaflets, and the somewhat smaller flowers. 
This interesting shrub was discovered by Harlan P. Kelsey, 
who offered it for sale for the first time in his catalogue of 
1900-01. The foliowing quotation is from a letter recently re- 
ceived from Mr. Kelsey in response to a request for information as 
to the locality and habitat of this plant: ‘Robinia Kelsey: was found 
growing on the Blue Ridge range south oi Pineola, North Carolina. 
