LOCUST. 



[104] 



Family: LEGUMINOSAE. 



Reproductive system: DIADELPHY, DECANDRY. 



The locust or false acacia, Robinia pseudacacia, Linn., is a tree that grows about 

 forty or fifty feet high. Its trunk is straight. The branches, with double spines at their base, 

 have imparipinnate leaves. The leaflets are oval, entire, and are an attractive green color. 

 The flowers are white, fragrant, and are arranged in pendent clusters. The calyx is bell- 

 shaped with four small teeth. The corolla is papilionaceous. There are ten stamens, nine 

 of which join in a tube around the style, which is hairy at the tip. The fruit is a smooth flat 

 oblong pod containing several seeds. 



FLOWERS: in June and July. 



RANGE: Virginia. It was brought to France around 1600. Since that time it has 

 been cultivated throughout the kingdom and has been naturalized in a number of 

 provinces. 



NOMENCLATURE. Robinia, after Jean Robin who lived during the reigns of Henri 

 IV and Louis XIII and who was appointed herbalist, to the king [Translator's note: the 

 genus was named by Linnaeus in tribute to Jean Robin, 1550-1 629. The herbalist was an 

 official who specialized in medicinal plants]. His son Vespasien Robin first cultivated the 

 Robinia pseudacacia with seeds that he got from America. Colloquial French, common 

 acacia, gardener's acacia. English, the common acacia. German, gemeine acacienbaum. 



The chamlagu acacia, if obinia chamlagu, Willd., [Translator's note: now 

 Caragana sinica] is a shrub three or four feet high with crooked branches. The leaves are 

 paripinnate with oval leaflets indented at the tip and often with a point. The flowers are 

 quite large, yellow with a red spot at the tip, solitary on their peduncles that have two 

 thorns at the base. The calyx is a tube with five small teeth at the top. 



FLOWERS: in May. 



RANGE: China. Cultivated in gardens for a long time. 



