1520 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



any special commercial value. The best specimen of it which I have seen was cut 

 down at Wretham Rectory, Norfolk, in 1884, when it produced a log 30 ft, long, 

 containing 69 cubic feet of timber. From it a bookcase of very nice appearance was 

 made. (H. J. E.) 



GLEDITSCHIA AQUATICA 



Gleditschia aquatica, Marshall, Arb. Amer. 95 (178$) J Sargent, Silva N. Atner. iii. 79, t. 127 



(1892), and Trees N. Amer. 558 (1905). 

 Gleditschia inermis. Miller, Diet. ed. 8, No. 2 (1768); Schneider, Laubholzkunde, ii. 13 (1907). 

 Gleditschia caroliniensis, Lamarck, Encyc. ii. 465 (1786). 

 Gleditschia monosperma, Walter, Fl. Carol. 254 (1788); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. ii. 653 (1838). 



A tree, attaining in America 50 to 60 ft. in height, with a short trunk occasion- 

 ally 8 ft. in girth. Young branchlets glabrous. Leaves simply pinnate, or bipinnate 

 with three or four pairs of pinnae ; leaflets of the simple pinnate leaves, ten to twenty, 

 lanceolate, about i in. long and \ in. wide, gradually narrowing to an obtuse apex, 

 which is usually without any distinct mucro ; margin crenulate, slightly ciliate ; both 

 surfaces shining, glabrous ; stalklet slender, slightly pubescent ; rachis pubescent on 

 the edge of the narrow groove, elsewhere glabrous. 



Pod thin and flattened, without pulp, dehiscent ; either one-seeded, rhomboid, 

 I to i^ in. long, or two-seeded, with the edges nearly parallel, about 2\ in. long ; 

 reddish brown, glabrous, and without dotted pits on the surface. Seed orbicular, 

 flattened, about \ in. in diameter, orange-brown, marked on the surface with trans- 

 verse wavy lines. 



The spines in this species are shining dark reddish brown, compressed and not 

 terete in section, usually unbranched, or rarely with short branches arising pinnately 

 in one plane. 



G. aquatica is a native of the coast region of the United States from South 

 Carolina, Georgia, and Florida westward through the Gulf States to the Brazos river 

 in Texas; and extends northward in the Mississippi basin, through Louisiana, 

 Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee to southern Illinois and Indiana. East of the 

 Mississippi river, it is rare and only found in river swamps ; but westward it is very 

 abundant on rich alluvial land, occupying in Louisiana and Arkansas extensive 

 tracts, which are inundated for a considerable period every year. 



It is said by Loudon to have been introduced into England in 1723 by Catesby ; 

 but it is extremely doubtful if the large trees considered to be this species by Loudon 

 were correctly named, as in all probability they were simply G. triacanthos. 



The only specimen which we have seen in this country, is a small tree at Kew, 

 about 10 ft. high. 1^ pj \ 



