250 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
Derivation. In honour of Got/licb Gleditsch, of Leipsic, once a professor at Berlin, and defender of 
Linneus against Si beck ; author of Methodus Fungorum (1753), Systema Plantarum a Stami- 
num situ (1764), and many other smaller works. 
Gen. Char. Flowers unisexual from abortion, or hermaphrodite. Calyw of 
3—4—5 equal sepals, which are connected together at the base into a cu- 
pule. Petals equal in number to the sepals, rising from the tube of the 
calyx. Stamens equal in number to the sepals. Style short. Stigma pu- 
- bescent above. Legume continuous, furnished with more or less pulp. Seeds 
compressed. (Don’s Mill.) 
Leaves compound, abruptly pinnate, and bipinnate, on the same tree ; or, 
rarely, by the coalition of the leaflets, almost simple, alternate, stipulate, 
aeciduous. Flowers greenish, in spikes.—Trees, deciduous, of the Ist, 2d, 
and 3d ranks; natives of North America or China. Branchlets supra- 
axillary, and often converted into branched spines. Decaying leaves yellow. 
Naked young wood purplish or brownish green. 
The species are of easy culture in good free soil ; and, in Britain, generally 
propagated by imported seeds, or grafting, The species appear to be ina 
state of great confusion in British gardens; and, judging from the trees in the 
Hort. Soc. Garden, and in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, we should 
conjecture that there are, probably, not more than two species, the American 
and the Chinese. The Chinese species is distinguished by its trunk being 
more spiny than its branches. 
¥ 1.G. rriaca’nTHOs Lin. The three-thorned Gleditschia, or Honey Locust. 
y 
Identification. Lin. Sp., 1509. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 479. ; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 428. 
Synonymes. G. triacinthos var. « polyspérma Mart, Mill.; G. meliloba Walt.; G. spindsa Du 
Ham. ; Acacia triacanthos Hort. ; Acacia americana Pluk. ; Févier d’Amérique, Fr.; Fava ame- 
ricana, Ital. ; Thorny Acacia, Sweet Locust, United States; Carouge 4 Miel, Canada. 
Engravings. Michx. fil. Arb., 2. p. 164. t.10.; Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 138.; the plates of this species 
in Arb. Brit., lst edit., vol. v.; and our jig. 412. 
Spec. Char., §c. Spines simple or trifid; stout, at the very base compressed, 
in the upper part cylindrical, but tapered. Leaflets linear-oblong. Legumes 
flattish, rather crooked, many-seeded, and more than ten times as long as 
broad. (Dec. Prod.) A large tree. Carolina and Virginia. Height 50 ft. 
to 80 ft. Introduced in 1700. Flowers greenish; June and July. Legume 
brown; ripe in October. Decaying leaves yellow. Naked young wood 
purplish brown. 
¥ G. t. 2 nérmis Dec., G. levis Hort. (Dec. Leg. Mém., 2. t. 22. fig. 109. 
Catesb. Carol., l. t, 43.; Pluk. Alm., t. 123. fig. 3. ; and the plates of 
this variety in Arb. Brit., lst edit., vol. v.), has the stem and branches 
not spiny, or but very sparingly so. 
* G. t. 3 brachycérpa, G. brachycarpa Pursh, G. triacanthos var. 6 
Michx. — Leaflets oblong obtuse. Spines thick, short, not rarely 3 
together. Legumes oblong, short. 
The trunk and branches, when the tree is young, are covered with large 
prickles, which, though they are not ligneous, become hard, and remain on for 
several years, and offer a formidable defence. These prickles are not only 
produced by the young wood, but occasionally protrude themselves from the 
trunk, even when the tree is of considerable bulk and age. In general, the 
trunk presents a twisted appearance, and the branches proceed from it rather 
horizontally than in an upright direction. The pinnated foliage is particularly 
elegant, and of an agreeable light shining green: it appears late in spring, the 
trees in the neighbourhood of London sometimes not being fully clothed till 
the middle or end of June; and it begins to turn yellow, and drop off, early 
in autumn. The flowers are inconspicuous; the male flowers being in the 
form of catkin-like racemes of nearly the same colour as the leaves. Some 
trees in the grounds at Syon have ripened seeds, the pods containing which, 
being 1 ft. to 2ft. in length, and remaining on the trees after the leaves are off, 
have a singular appearance. These crooked pendulous pods are of a reddish 
