Family Leguminosæ
The Leguminosæ are a large order of plants including many different genera,—from the little clover by the wayside to the honey locust trees, 140 feet high. The trees of the different genera are all distinguished by their pod-like fruit,—the name Leguminosæ being given to this family on account of the leguminous or bean-like pods which enclose the seeds.
They are interesting to study on account of the buds, which differ in structure from the hidden buds of the locusts enclosed in the stem, to the subpetiolar buds of the yellowwood, concealed under the leafstalks through the summer, but conspicuous in winter after they have fallen.
Common Locust Robinia pseud-acacia
An irregular growing, slender tree, 70 to 80 feet high, with very rough, deeply furrowed, often yellowish-looking bark. Slender twigs, with inconspicuous thorns. Small, alternate triangular leaf-scars, somewhat raised in the centre. The buds are superposed between the thorns, and are entirely hidden by the leaf-scars. Fruit a pea-shaped pod, four or five inches long.
The common locust is one of the few trees which is decidedly more attractive in summer than in winter. The delicate texture and tender green of the leaves and the pendulous racemes of white fragrant flowers make the whole beauty of this tree, and in winter it seems rough, straggling, and uncouth in its habit of growth, and utterly devoid of either strength or grace. The common locust glories in a wealth of summer sweetness and color, but in winter the absence of poise and symmetry in its branches and its colorless stems make it seem shapeless and dead.
The wood is heavy and strong, and durable when it is placed in contact with the soil. It is used in ship-building and for posts. The bark is a tonic used in homœopathic remedies.
COMMON LOCUST TREES
Robinia pseud-acacia
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The name, Robinia, was given to this genus in honor of Jean Robin, a French botanist, and the gardener of Henry IV. of France. The specific name, pseud-acacia (false acacia), arose from the supposition that this tree was a species of the Egyptian acacia from its prickly branches and pinnate leaves, which are like those of that tree. It was called “locust tree” by English missionaries who collected it first and fancied that it was the tree that nourished John the Baptist in the wilderness.
It was one of the first American trees to attract attention in Europe, and it has been extensively cultivated there.
The locust is not a native of New England, but it grows wild south of Pennsylvania and it is widely naturalized throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.
The clammy locust (Robinia viscosa) is a small tree or shrub easily distinguished from the common locust by its stems and young branches, which are clammy and sticky to the touch. It is a native of the mountains of North Carolina, and it has been extensively cultivated as far north as Eastern Massachusetts.
The specific name, viscosa, is from the Latin adjective meaning full of birdlime, sticky, and refers to the peculiar clamminess of the stems.
Robinia hispida, the rose acacia, is an ornamental shrub cultivated in gardens and found growing wild from Virginia southward. The specific name, hispida (bristly), refers to the long bristles on the branches, leaves, and pods which distinguish this shrub from the other species of the genus.
Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos
A large tree with a smooth dark bark, cracking in thick lateral plates on old trees. Long, branching thorns growing in clusters out of the trunk and on the branches. Smooth, shining brown twigs and prominent U-shaped, alternate leaf-scars. There are no terminal buds, and the lateral ones are superposed, inconspicuous, rounded, and partly concealed in the stem. The fruit is a large, pea-like pod, often hanging on the trees through the winter.
HONEY LOCUST
Gleditsia triacanthos
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The honey locust is a beautiful tree with a large trunk and wide, loosely spreading branches. It is particularly interesting in winter on account of the apparent absence of buds along the stems. But for the rich brown color of the stems they might be thought dead until a cut with a knife in the stem over the leaf-scars shows the little tender buds tucked away out of sight. It is interesting, too, to find thorns which are long enough to have little thorns branching from them. A straight thorn seems formidable enough even on a rose stem, but a thorn some ten inches long with eight thorns branching from it, each varying from half an inch to two inches long, and this but one of a cluster of thorns, keeps the trunk of the honey locust sacred from climbing boys and from browsing cattle. The honey locust is more effective than a barbed wire for fencing. The fruit is in the form of a flat, crooked reddish brown pod from seven to eighteen inches long. These pods are often twisted, and are carried easily by the wind over the top of the snow, and young locusts are propagated in this way at a great distance from the parent tree. Beer has been made by fermenting the inner pulp of fresh pods, but it is more of an experiment than a customary practice.
The wood of the honey locust is hard, strong, and durable when it is placed in contact with the soil; it is used for posts and rails and for making the hubs of wheels.
The generic name, Gleditsia, was given to it in honor of Gleditsch, a German botanist; and the specific name, triacanthos (three-thorned), refers to the branching thorns.
The honey locust is not native in New England, although it is found growing commonly. Young trees spring up from the seeds of cultivated trees, and in this way it has spread and increased its range. It is found growing wild from Pennsylvania south and west. There are thornless varieties of this tree which are often cultivated.
Yellowwood Cladrastis lutea
A small tree, 20 to 50 feet high, with a smooth dark gray bark. The stems are smooth and brown, with light colored conspicuous leaf-scars in a circle around the subpetiolar buds. The buds are brown and very hairy, each scale being covered with soft brown hairs. Pod-like fruit, about two inches long.
The clean, smooth bark of the yellowwood, its delicate branches and rich brown stems make this tree attractive in winter, in spite of the fact that, like the locust, its greatest beauty is in its sweet pendulous flowers and bright green leaves. The yellowwood is one of the few trees which have subpetiolar buds, and the prominent leaf-scars encircling the bud show that the base of the leafstalk covered it until the leaf fell off in the autumn.
KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE
Gymnocladus dioicus
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The wood is used for making gunstocks and for fuel, and it also yields a yellow dye, from which it takes its specific name, lutea,—yellow. The generic name, Cladrastis, comes from two Greek words meaning brittle branches, and was given to the tree on account of its fragile branches, which are easily broken by the wind. The yellowwood, or virgilia as it is sometimes called, is extensively cultivated in gardens and it is found growing wild in Kentucky and Tennessee. Professor Sargent says that it is one of the rarest and most local trees of North America.
Kentucky Coffee Tree Gymnocladus dioicus
A large tree, 50 to 80 feet high, with rough bark. Large cane-like, smooth, gray shoots somewhat roughened by prominent lenticles. Large U-shaped, alternate leaf-scars with three or five bundle-scars. No terminal bud, the lateral buds are (two or three) superposed, they are inconspicuous, very silky to the touch, deep set and surrounded by an incurved rim of the bark. Large, wide, thick pods, 5 to 10 inches long.
The Kentucky coffee tree is entirely destitute of small spray, and in winter its thick, cane-like stems, without any perceptible buds, give it a singular appearance of rigid bluntness. A more striking contrast than the flat, fine sprayed branches of the hop hornbeam and the stout, upright stems of the Kentucky coffee tree could not be imagined. The early settlers in Kentucky made a drink from the seeds of this tree, which they considered equal to coffee, but later when communication with the seaport towns was established they gave up this drink for real coffee, and the seeds have never been used since for that purpose, although the tree has retained its name.
The wood is heavy, but not very strong. It is occasionally used in cabinet making and for posts and rails.
The generic name comes from two Greek words meaning naked branch, and has reference to the stout branches without spray; and the specific name comes from two Greek words meaning of two households, and refers to the male and female flowers which are found on separate trees. The Kentucky coffee tree is found growing wild from New York southward and westward, and it is occasionally cultivated in gardens and parks.
There are one or two other trees belonging to this family which are found planted in gardens. Of these the laburnum (Laburnum vulgare), a small tree 10 to 20 feet high, is perhaps the most familiar. It came originally from Switzerland, and has been cultivated in our gardens for its beautiful yellow flowers, “rich in streaming gold.” Another member of the family cultivated for its flowers and found wild from New York south and west is the redbud or Judas tree (Cercis canadensis). It is a small tree with no terminal buds, and with spreading, oval flower buds along the stems, which open before the leaf buds in the spring, and cover the branches with deep-pink flowers.
Chapter XI
THE LINDENS, THE LIQUIDAMBER, AND THE SASSAFRAS
1. The Linden. 2. The Liquidamber. 3. The Sassafras.