Robinia ^499 



A tree at Kew, called var. pendula nova, has slightly pendulous branches with 

 small leaflets. 



3. Var. tortuosa, De Candolle, Cat. PI. Monspel. 136 (1813). 



A tree, with wide-spreading twisted branches.^ The habit is well figured by 

 Schneider, Dendrol. Winterstudien, 89, fig. 90 (1903). 



4. Var. umbraculifera, De Candolle, Cat. PL Monspel. 137 (1813). 



A compact, rounded bush, giving dense shade ; branches without spines ; seldom 

 if ever flowering.^ Suitable for rock gardens, and often called Parasol Acacia. 

 It is said^ to have originated from a burr on a tree of the typical form. There are 

 two good specimens at Kew, about 15 ft. high, grafted at about 10 ft. from the 

 ground. 



5. Var. Bessoniana, Nicholson. 



A compact, dense, round-headed tree, without spines. This resists wind, and 

 is much used for avenues and street planting. It is readily propagated by cuttings. 



6. Var. inermis, De Candolle, Cat. PI. Monspel. 136 (181 3). 

 Branches without spines ; otherwise as in the type. 



II. Leaves different from those of the type. 



7. Numerous varieties with differently coloured foliage are known, the peculi- 

 arities of which are indicated by their names, as var. aurea, Kirchner ; var. aureo- 

 variegata, Schneider ; var. argenteo-variegata, Kirchner : and var. purpurea, Dippel. 



8. Var. crispa, De Candolle, Prod. ii. 261 (1825). 



Leaflets curled ; branches without spines. On a tree of this variety in the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Paris, only the upper leaflets were abnormal, the lower three 

 or four pairs of each leaf being of the ordinary form. 



9. Var. bullata, Koch, Dendrologie, i. 56 (1869). 

 Leaflets crowded and puckered with swellings. 



10. A series of forms, with remarkably small leaflets, have arisen in cultivation, 

 as var. amorphaefolia, Link ; var. myrtifolia, Koch ; var. tragacanthoides, Kirchner ; 

 var. sophoraefolia, Kirchner (/?. coluteoides, Koch). In var. linearis, Kirchner, and 

 var. dissecta, Koch, the leaves are remarkably narrow. 



11. Var. monophylla, Kirchner, Arb. Muse. 377 (1864). 



Leaves with only one leaflet, which is much enlarged, or with, in addition, 

 three to five leaflets, all larger than in the type. This appeared in 1855 as a single 

 plant in a bed of seedlings in M. Deniaux's nursery at Brain-sur-Authion (Maine- 

 et-Loire). The original plant was transplanted into the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, 

 where it flowered and gave seeds in 1865. The seeds when sown were said to have 

 yielded about one-quarter of the variety, the remainder being normal. The one- 

 leaved Robinia is also said to be liable to a petaloid alteration of the stamens, which 

 impairs fertility.'' 



A tall, slender tree of var. monophylla at Brocklesby Park, 57 ft. high and 



1 This variety occasionally develops remarkably thick corky bark. Cf. Mitt. Dettt. Dend. Ges. 191 1, p. 404, fig. 



2 Koch, Dendrologie, i. 57 (1869) states that he saw a flowering branch, which had been produced by an undipped 

 bush of this variety. The flowers were white, and not yellow, as stated by Dumont de Courset, Bot. Cult. vi. 140 (181 1). 



3 Carri^re, Prod, et Fixat. Vars. 54 (1865). * De Vries, Plant Breeding, 617, 664 (1906). 



