132 FAMILIAR TREES 



Robinia is allied to tlie Restharirows (Ono'nis), 

 and to tlie Brooms and Laburnums (Gy'tisus), belong- 

 ing with them to the Section Lo'tece of the Sub-order 

 Papiliona'cecB. 



The genus Robinia is distinguished by its pods 

 being flat and furnished with a projecting flange ex- 

 ternally along that margin to which the seeds are 

 attached internally— the margin termed " ventral " — 

 and also by its leaves being made up of several pairs 

 of leaflets with an odd terminal one. The distinctive 

 characteristics of the species known as the False 

 Acacia are its scented flowers, generally white, and 

 hanging in a loose raceme or cluster, like that of 

 the Laburnum, the egg-shaped leaflets, and the pair 

 ot spines at the base of each leaf representing the 

 "stipules." These appendages are very variable in 

 different plants, being often absent altogether or 

 but small and fugacious, represented by large leaf- 

 like structures as in the Pea, or performing the 

 entire function of the leaves, as in some Vetches. 

 In some of. the true Acacias they are also thorns, 

 but are hollowed out so as to furnish lodgings for 

 tribes of ants, which protect the shrub from other 

 species of the same group of insects who would 

 despoil it of its leaves ; but the function of the 

 solid prickles in the False Acacia is not so obvious 

 — not, at least, when the tree is fully grown. From 

 these prickles and its pod-like fruits this species 

 derives its German name, " Schotendorn." 



This tree can be raised either from seed, from 

 cuttings, or by grafting. It will grow in any soil that 

 is not too wet ; and is a quick-growing but short-lived 



