SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



ACACIA. 



GLEDITSIA. 



legumixosj:. polygamia dkecia. 



The tree commonly called in this country the Acacia^, is the 

 Robinia^ or Pseudo-acacia ; but that here meant is the three- 

 thorned Acacia, or Honey-locust tree, botanically called Gleditsia 

 triacanthos. — French, fevier. 



The Gleditsia triacanthos, or Honey-locust tree, is 

 a native of North America, remarkable for its brilliant 

 green ; the leaves are what the botanists term doubly 

 pinnate, or bipinnate, having nine or ten pairs of small 

 leaves, or leaflets, placed opposite, at certain distances, 

 upon a common stalk, which forms the pinnate leaf : of 

 these four or fi\'e pairs are placed, in the same regular 

 manner, upon a second stalk, or midrib, — the whole, in 

 botanical language, forming a bipinnate leaf. The flowers 

 are small, and too nearly of the colour of the leaves to 

 make any show ; but the pod or legume which succeeds, 

 being a foot or a foot and a half long, and of a dark 

 brown colour, has a curious effect contrasted with the 

 cheerful colour of the foliage. 



The trunk is guarded with thorns three or four inches 

 in length, having smaller ones coming out from their 

 sides nearly at right angles ; these are red, and have a 

 very singular appearance. The branches also are armed 

 with red thorns, proportionably smaller. 



B 



