0477 



ROSE ACACIA, 



Family: LEGUMINOSAE. 



Reproductive system: DlADELPHY, DECANDRY. 



The rose acacia, Robinia hispida, LINN., native to North America, has been 

 naturalized over almost all of France for many years. It grows twelve or fifteen feet high. 

 Its numerous uneven branches are frail, pendent, and are copiously covered, as are the 

 peduncles, with reddish bristles. The leaves are pinnate with seven, nine, or eleven entire 

 leaflets that are acuminate at the tip. The beautiful pink flowers are arranged in axillary 

 pendent clusters. The calyx has a short peduncle and is bell-shaped with five unequal 

 lobes. The corolla is irregular, papilionaceous, with a very large standard. There are ten 

 stamens; nine are joined by their filaments into a tube and one is completely free. The 

 ovary is crowned with a style and a stigma that's hairy anteriorly. The fruit is a flattened 

 oblong pod containing several seeds. 



FLOWERS: during June, July, and August. 



RANGE: Carolina; naturalized in our parks and gardens. 



NOMENCLATURE. Linnaeus named the Robinia genus in honor of a French 

 botanist named Jean Robin. English, the rose-acacia. Spanish, mata-raton. Commonly, 

 pink acacia. 



USES. The branches of this tree bending under the weight of clusters of pink 

 flowers create a most vivid impression in parks and in ornamental gardens. 



CULTIVATION. It's grafted on the robinia false-acacia; one would like to be able 

 to grow it on its own roots. 



