294 Eleventh Annual Report 



able in the ground, but experience proves that the heart wood is 

 about as durable as white oak, while the sap wood decays very 

 rapidly. Used for fence posts. 



Horticultural value. It is frequently used for ornamental plant- 

 ing. It is adapted to all kinds of soil, although its preference is 

 for a moist soil, grows rapidly and is free from disease. Nursery- 

 men now offer a thornless variety which is preferred to the native 

 tree. 



2. Gleditsia aquatica Marshall. Honey Locust. Thorn Tree. 

 Plate 104. Bark smoothish, dull gray; twigs yellowish-brown turn- 

 ing to a gray or reddish-brown, thorns simple or with one or two 

 short branches; leaves pinnate or twice pinnate; flowers similar to 

 the preceding species; fruit 3-5 cm. (13^-2 inches) long and 1.5-2 cm. 

 (%-l inch) wide, one seeded, rarely two. 



Distribution. Southern Illinois and Indiana, south to the Gulf 

 States and west to Texas. Rare and local in its general distribu- 

 tion and in Indiana confined to a few localities in the extreme 

 southwestern counties where it is found in sloughs and cypress 

 swamps. 



The published records of the distribution are as follows: Gibson 

 (Schneck); Knox (Ridgway) and (Thomas); Miami (Gorby);* Posey 

 (Schneck). 



Additional records are: Knox (Schneck). 



Economic uses. Too rare to be of any economic importance. 



3. GYMNOCLADUS. The Coffee Tree. 



(From the Greek, gymnos, naked, klados, branch; in reference to the naked appearance of the tree in 



the winter condition). 



Gymnocladus dioica (Linnseus) Koch. Coffeenut Tree. Plate 

 105. Bark of the trunk deeply fissured, dark gray; twigs at first 

 hairy, at length smooth, brown or gray, splotched with brown; 

 leaves twice pinnate, 3-9 dm. (12-36 inches) long, 4-6 dm. (16-24 

 inches) wide; leaflets ovate, 3-6 cm. (1^-23^ inches) long; flowers 

 appear in May, in whitish terminal racemes, the staminate in clus- 

 ters, 7-10 cm. (2^-4 inches) long, the pistillate in racemes 2-3 dm. 

 (4-12 inches) long; fruit a pod about 1.5 dm. (6 inches) long, seeds 

 imbedded in a dark-colored sweet pulp. 



Distribution. Southern Ontario and central New York, south to 

 Tennessee and west to eastern Nebraska and Oklahoma. No doubt 



*This record is evidently an error. 



