FEA FAMILY 



in full leaf. The casual observer savs it bears no winter 

 buds, but he is mistaken, a tin\' pair, so minute that the_y 

 are detected onlv bv careful searching, wrapped in down and 

 wool, lie sleeping in the axil of every last vear's leaf. One 

 is foredoomed lo die, but the c">ther, if the lates agree, will 

 grow and develop a tuft of great leaves which wdl transform 

 the dead stump into a living tree. 



The leaves of the Kentuckv Coffee-tree are doublv com- 

 pound and are often three feet long and two feet broad. 

 This form of leaf is not unusual among herbs, but is rare 

 among forest trees. In our norlheim flora there are but 

 three examples, the Kentucky Coffee-tree, the Hcmev lA^^cust, 

 and the Hercules' Club. Notwithstanding the size of the 

 leaves the tree is sparingly clothed and the foliage effect is 

 scanty ; indeed, it has been said of il that the leaves filter the 

 light rather than cast a shadow. The expanding leaves are 

 conspicuous because of the varied colors of the leaflets ; the 

 youngest are bright pink, while those which are older vary 

 from green to bronze. 



HONEY LOCUST. HONEY SHUCKS 



Gh'ditsiii tiiiiidutJios. 



Glcditsia commeniMrates the labors of Gleditsch, a botanist con- 

 temporary with l.iiina_-us. 



A tree usually fifty to seventy-fi\e feet liish, with stout sturdy 

 trunk, slender spreading often pendulous branches forming a broad 

 fiat top. Native to the .Mississippi valley, it has become naturalized 

 in New England. Is tolerant of many soils, but in the bottom lands 

 of southern Indiana and Illinois attains the astonishing proportions of 

 one hundred and forty feet in height with a trunk si.\ feet in diameter. 

 Roots thick and fibrous, trtmk and branches spinw 



Bark — Dark, deeply fissured, surface covered by small scales. 

 Branchlets light reddish brown at fii'st, later grayish brown. 



Wood. — Red 1>rown ; hard, strong, coarse-grained, durable in con- 

 tact with the ground. .Sp. gr., 0.6740 ; weight of cu. ft., 42.00 lbs. 



112 



