1514 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



lower surface, with scattered minute pubescence, which usually soon disappears, and 

 with prominent reticulate venation ; margin crenulate and ciliate ; rachis pubescent 

 on the edges of the groove ; petiolule pubescent. 



Flowers, on pedicels about ^ in. long, in .loose pubescent racemes; ovary 

 pubescent on the borders. Pod indehiscent, 6 to 10 in. long, | to i|- in. broad, swollen 

 and convex on both surfaces, glaucous, glabrous, dark purplish brown, marked on 

 the surface with dot-like pits. Seeds numerous, placed in the centre of the pod, 

 oval, about | in. long, convex on both surfaces, pointed at the apex, smooth, shining, 

 brown, marked with transerve lines. 



The spines on the branchlets are terete, usually with one or two lateral smaller 

 spines, A variety ^ without spines is said to have arisen in Camuzet's nursery in 

 1823. 



G. sinensis was described in 1786 by Lamarck from a tree, which had been 

 cultivated for nine years in the Royal Garden at Versailles. It was said to have 

 been raised from seed ^ received from China ; and Lamarck adds that the pods were 

 somewhat cylindrical and contained globose seeds. In Gay's herbarium at Kew, 

 there is a specimen, labelled G. sinensis, Lamarck, which was gathered in 1822 from 

 a tree, probably the original one, at the Trianon ; and this specimen may be regarded 

 as an undoubted type of Lamarck's species.' It is identical with a species of 

 Gleditschia which occurs wild on the mountains near Peking, and is cultivated 

 farther south, as at Shanghai and Ningpo. The pods, which are called tsao-chia, are 

 used as soap for washing clothes by the Chinese. 



Loudon reported large trees of this species at Syon and the Mile End Nursery 

 in 1838 ; but it is doubtful if these were accurately named; and they cannot now 

 be found. We have not seen a single example in Britain. It is not common even 

 in France, though there are large specimens at Verrieres* near Paris, and at 

 Montpellier. (A. H.) 



GLEDITSCHIA MACRACANTHA 



Gleditschia macracantha, Desfontaines, Hist. Arb. ii. 246 (1809); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. ii. 



654 (1838). 

 Gleditschia Fontanesii, Spach, Hist. Vig. i. 95 (1834). 

 Gleditschia officinalis,^ Hemsley, in Kew Bulletin, 1892, p. 82. 



A tree, attaining in central China 50 ft. in height. Young branchlets glabrous. 

 Leaves simply pinnate, with six to twelve leaflets, which are variable in size ; those 



' De Vries, Plant Breeding, 617 (1906). 



2 Bretschneider, Hist. Europ. Bot. Disc. China, 49, 52, 77 (1898), supposes that the seed was sent from Peking by 

 Pere D Incarville ; but the latter died in 1757, and Lamarck's account, though not quite clear, seems to indicate that the 

 seeds were received about 1777. 



' ^; ""'""' has been much confused with other Chinese species by various authors. There are good specimens in the 

 British Museum, gathered by Bretschneider and Williams near Peking. 



. ' ^\^'^'"\^''""'""i''"'"' 19 (1906), where a tree of this species, wrongly identified as G. caspica, is reported to be 

 so it. high and S ft. in girth. It was probably planted in 1825. 



° This species was founded on specimens, bearing unripe and aborted pods, which were gathered on 26th July 1888. 



