520 



KE'W ENGLAND TREES IN "WINTER, 



YELLOW WOOD 



Virgilia, Gopher Wood. 



Cladrastis lutea (Mx. f.) Koch. 



HABIT — A small tree under 50 ft. in heiarht with trunk diameter of 

 1-2 ft.; trunk generally dividing low down into several slightly 

 spreading limbs witli numerous slender more or less zigzag branches, 

 the lower often strongly declined, forming a broad rounded head. 



BARK — Thin, gray to light brown, in general smooth, resembling 

 bark of the Beech with slight protuberances ur ridges and horizontal 

 wrinkles. 



TAVIGS — Rather slender, more or less zigzag, brittle, smooth bright 

 reddish-brown, covert-d often by a gra\'ish skin, odor and taste resembl- 

 ing that of a raw dried pea or bean. LEXTICELS — pale, scattered, 

 generally conspicuous. PITH — \vide. white, round in section. 



LEAF-SCARS — Alternate, 2-ranked. or more than 2-ranked, raised. 

 pale ^■ello\v, forming a V-shaped collar of almost uniform diameter 

 nearly enciroling the bud. STIPULE-SCARS — absent. BUNDLE-SCARS — • 

 typically 5 (1-9) generally regularly spaced and raised or at times 

 some of the five indistinct or lacking. 



BIDS — Terminal bud absent, lateral buds naked, superposed, 3-4, 

 the uppermost the largest and generally" alone de\'eloping, flattened, 

 closely packed together to form a pointed bud-lilte hairy cone generally 

 under 5 mm. long, nearly surrounded by the leaf-scar. BUD-SCALES — 

 absent, their place taken by the densely hairy immature leaves. 



FRUIT — A smooth flat margined pod ij-10 cm. long, containing a few 



small oblong compressed seeds. 



COMPARISONS — The Yellow Wood is well characterized by Its 

 beech-like bark, its slender fv\-igs, and its superposed hairy buds closely 

 clustered into a bud-like cone and practically surrounded by the leaf- 

 scar and is therefore scarcely to be confused with any other tree. 



DISTRIBl'TlOX — In rich soil, limestone ridges and often along 

 mountain streams, rare and local. Western North Carolina. Kentucky. 

 Tennessee, Alabama. Missouri; often cultivated in New England as an 

 ornamental tree. 



"WOOD — Heavy, very hard, strong and close-grained, with a smooth, 

 satiny surface, bright clear yellow changing to light brown on ex- 

 posure, with thin nearly white sapwood; used for fuel, occasionally for 

 gun stocks and yielding a clear yellow dye. 



