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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
