Division II. Dicotyledons (part 5)

Leaves obovate to ovate, acute, gradually narrowed from near the middle to the concave-cuneate glandular base, sharply often doubly serrate above with glandular teeth, and usually divided toward the apex into short acute lobes, nearly fully grown when the flowers open at the end of April, and then membranaceous, glabrous with the exception of a few hairs on the midrib above and on the midrib and slender veins below, and at maturity subcoriaceous, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and still hairy on the lower surface, 1½′—2′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide; turning in the autumn yellow and brown sometimes flushed with red; petioles slender, wing-margined at the apex, glandular, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers about ¾′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels, in 3—6-flowered simple corymbs, with lanceolate conspicuously glandular reddish bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube broadly obconic, glabrous, the lobes abruptly narrowed from the base, wide, glabrous, glandular with dark red stipitate glands, and often coarsely serrate above the middle; stamens 20; anthers large, dark rose color; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a ring of pale hairs. Fruit ripening and falling at the end of September and early in October, on slender erect pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, subglobose to short-oblong, orange-red, marked by numerous pale dots, about ⅜′ long; calyx enlarged and prominent, with spreading lobes often deciduous from the ripe fruit; flesh thick and soft; nutlets 3—5, rounded at the ends, prominently but irregularly ridged and grooved on the back, ¼′ long.

A tree, sometimes 10°—12° high, with a slender trunk covered with ashy gray fissured scaly bark often tinged with brown and frequently nearly black near the ground, stout ascending branches, and slender zigzag glabrous branchlets bright red-brown during their first season, becoming dark gray-brown, and armed with many very slender red-brown lustrous ultimately ashy gray spines 1′—1½′ long.

Distribution. Northeastern Alabama; common on Lookout Mountain above Valley Head and at Collinsville, DeKalb County, and at Gadsden, Etowah County.

123. Cratægus consanguinea Beadl.

Leaves broad-obovate to nearly orbicular, occasionally oval or rhombic, acute and generally short-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and concave-cuneate or sometimes rounded at the entire base, finely and often doubly serrate with glandular teeth, and frequently irregularly divided above the middle into short acute lobes, nearly fully grown when the flowers open at the end of March or early in April, and then very thin, blue-green, slightly villose, especially on the midrib and veins, and at maturity thin, bright green, glabrous with the exception of a few hairs on the under side of the slender midrib, and thin primary veins extending very obliquely toward the end of the leaf, about 1′ long, and ¾′—⅞′ wide; petioles slender, glandular, wing-margined above, villose early in the season, becoming glabrous, ⅓′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often 1½′—2′ long and wide. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on long slender hairy pedicels, in simple 1—5-flowered corymbs, with oblanceolate acuminate bright red caducous bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube broadly obconic, sparingly hairy with long pale caducous hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, acute, glandular with minute bright red glands, glabrous; stamens 20; anthers small, deep rose color; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of short pale hairs. Fruit ripening and falling about the middle of September, on slender glabrous pedicels, often only a single fruit in a cluster developing, globose to depressed-globose, bright red, marked by small dark dots, nearly ½′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with enlarged appressed lobes; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 3—5, thick, narrowed and rounded at base, broad and rounded at apex, ridged on the back with a broad low rounded ridge, about /16′ long.

A tree, often 20° high, with a tall trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, covered with nearly black deeply furrowed bark broken into short thick closely appressed scales, wide-spreading often pendulous branches forming a broad symmetrical handsome head, and slender slightly zigzag branchlets covered when they first appear with pale caducous hairs, soon becoming bright red-brown and lustrous, and dull reddish brown in their second season, and armed with short nearly straight gray or chestnut-brown spines ⅓′—¾′ long.

Distribution. Dry upland Oak-woods in western Florida from the neighborhood of Tallahassee, Leon County to the Apalachicola River; common in the neighborhood of River Junction, Gadsden County, and at Aspalaga, Liberty County.

124. Cratægus tristis Beadl.

Leaves obovate, acute, acuminate, or rounded and often more or less undulate-lobed at the broad apex, gradually narrowed from above the middle and concave-cuneate at the glandular base, and serrate above with blunt glandular teeth, about half grown when the flowers open at the end of April, and then slightly pilose on the upper and villose on the lower surface on the thin midrib and in the axils of the slender veins extending obliquely to the point of the lobes, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, bright green and glabrous, 1¼′—1½′ long, and about ¾′ wide; turning in the autumn yellow, brown, and orange; petioles slender, wing-margined above, conspicuously glandular, slightly puberulous, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots oblong-obovate, often deeply and irregularly divided into broad acute lateral lobes, and frequently 1½′—2′ long and nearly as broad. Flowers ⅝′—¾′ in diameter, on slender villose pedicels, in simple 3—5-flowered corymbs, with rose-colored and conspicuously glandular bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube broadly obconic, hairy toward the base with long scattered pale hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, acuminate, glandular with large dark red glands, and entire or coarsely serrate above the middle; stamens 20; anthers pink; styles 3—5. Fruit ripening and falling late in August or early in September, ellipsoidal or short-oblong, orange-red, about ½′ long, with soft flesh; calyx little enlarged, with recurved persistent lobes; nutlets 3—5, broad and rounded at base, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, rounded and ridged on the back with a broad low slightly grooved ridge, about /16′ long.

A tree, sometimes 25° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, covered with dark sometimes nearly black deeply furrowed bark, stout pendulous branches forming a broad shapely handsome head, and slender branchlets hoary-tomentose when they first appear, bright red-brown and puberulous at the end of their first season, becoming dark gray-brown, and armed with few slender straight spines 1¼′—1½′ long; or often a large shrub.

Distribution. Slopes of low hills, northwestern Georgia; common in the neighborhood of Rome, Floyd County.

125. Cratægus floridana Sarg.

Leaves obovate-cuneate, frequently 3-lobed at apex with short rounded lobes, gradually narrowed and cuneate at the entire base, finely serrate above with straight or incurved teeth tipped with conspicuous ultimately dark persistent glands, 3-nerved with slender nerves, numerous thin secondary veins and reticulate veinlets, slightly villose above as they unfold, nearly fully grown when the flowers open about the middle of March, and then light yellow-green and glabrous with the exception of a few persistent hairs on the upper side of the nerves and in their axils, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 1′—1½′ long, and about ½′ wide; petioles slender, glandular, more or less winged toward the apex, tomentose, becoming pubescent or glabrous, usually about ½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots frequently 2′ long, and sometimes divided by deep rounded sinuses into numerous narrow lateral lobes, their stipules lunate, foliaceous, pointed, coarsely glandular-serrate. Flowers about ⅝′ in diameter, on slender tomentose pedicels, in few usually 1—3-flowered simple compact corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, coated with long matted white hairs, the lobes narrow, acuminate, glandular with bright red stipitate glands, villose toward the base on the outer surface and on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers small, pale yellow; styles 4 or 5, surrounded at the base by a broad ring of long shining white hairs. Fruit ripening from the middle to the end of August, on short stout pubescent pedicels, solitary or in 2 or 3-fruited drooping clusters, obovoid to short-oblong, usually about ¾′ long, bright orange-red, lustrous, marked by numerous pale dots; calyx prominent, with an elongated tube puberulous on the outer surface, and reflexed glandular-serrate lobes; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 4 or 5, acute at base, broad and rounded at apex, rounded and occasionally slightly ridged on the back, about ⅓′ long.

A tree, rarely more than 15° high, with a long straight trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, covered with thick nearly black deeply furrowed bark broken into short thick plate-like scales, small drooping branches forming a handsome symmetrical head, and slender conspicuously zigzag pendulous branchlets coated when they first appear with long pale matted hairs, becoming during their first season dark red-brown and more or less villose, and dark brown the following year, and armed with thin straight spines ¾′—1′ long, or unarmed.

Distribution. Dry sandy soil of the Pine-barrens of northeastern Florida; abundant in the neighborhood of Jacksonville, Duval County.

126. Cratægus lacrimata Small.

Leaves obovate, rounded or acute and glandular-serrate at apex usually with incurved teeth, entire and glandular below, gradually narrowed from above the middle to the base, and 3-nerved with slender yellow nerves, numerous thin secondary veins and reticulate veinlets, when the flowers open early in April nearly fully grown, light yellow, glabrous, with the exception of small tufts of pale caducous hairs in the axils of the nerves below, and at maturity subcoriaceous, lustrous, ¼′—¾′ long, and about ⅓′ wide; petioles slender, wing-margined toward the apex, dark orange-brown, at first puberulous, soon becoming glabrous, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers about ⅔′ in diameter, on short stout glabrous pedicels, in 3—5-flowered simple corymbs, with long linear entire caducous bracts and bractlets turning red in fading; calyx-tube broadly obconic, glabrous, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, acuminate, entire, tipped with large dark glands; stamens 20; anthers large, light yellow; styles usually 3, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of pale hairs. Fruit ripening toward the end of August, on slender pedicels, in 1 or 2-fruited clusters, subglobose to short-oblong, rounded at the ends, dull brownish yellow marked by occasional dark dots, about ⅓′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with an elongated tube, and spreading lobes usually deciduous before the fruit ripens; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 3, broad, rounded at the broad ends, rounded and sometimes obscurely grooved on the back, about ⅜′ long.

A tree, occasionally 20° but usually not more than 10° high, with a tall trunk 4′—6′ in diameter, covered with thick deeply furrowed black bark broken on the surface into thick plate-like closely appressed scales, long slender drooping branches forming a handsome symmetrical round-topped head; and thin glabrous very zigzag branchlets light orange-brown when they first appear, soon becoming reddish brown and lustrous, and dark gray-brown in their second year, and armed with many small nearly straight dark chestnut-brown spines ½′—¾′ long.

Distribution. Western Florida, Walton and Santa Rosa Counties (Pensacola to De Funiak Springs); sometimes in moist sand; more often in dry barrens; common and often a conspicuous feature of the vegetation.

127. Cratægus Ravenelii Sarg.

Leaves obovate, rounded and abruptly short-pointed or acute at the broad sometimes slightly lobed apex, gradually narrowed from above the middle to the elongated cuneate base, more or less undulate on the margins, and coarsely and usually doubly glandular-serrate above with large bright red ultimately dark persistent glands, nearly fully grown when the flowers open the middle of April, and then coated with long pale caducous hairs, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, yellow-green, scabrous on the upper surface, pale, and pubescent on the lower surface on the slender veins, 1′—1½′ long, and about ¾′ wide; petioles slender, glandular, winged above, tomentose when they first appear, becoming pubescent, ¼′—½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often 2′ long and 1½′ wide, and frequently divided above the middle into 2 or 3 pairs of broad lateral lobes. Flowers about ¾′ in diameter, on slender tomentose pedicels, in simple corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, thickly coated with long white hairs, the lobes lanceolate, villose on the outer, glabrous on the inner surface, glandular with small red glands; stamens 20; anthers small, pale yellow; styles 5, surrounded at base by a broad ring of pale tomentum. Fruit ripening early in October, on short thick pedicels, in few-fruited drooping or spreading clusters, globose to short-oblong, bright orange-red, marked by occasional dark dots, puberulous at the ends, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with enlarged spreading and appressed lobes; flesh thick, yellow, subacid; nutlets 5, narrowed and acute at the ends, ridged on the back with a high narrow ridge, ½′ long.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a trunk often 14′ or 15′ in diameter, covered with thick dark brown bark deeply divided into narrow interrupted ridges broken on the surface into short thick plate-like scales, heavy ascending or spreading branches forming an open irregular head, and stout zigzag branchlets thickly coated at first with hoary tomentum, dark purple or red-brown and pubescent during their first summer, becoming dark red-brown and glabrous the following season, and armed with thick straight dull gray-brown spines usually about 1½′ long.

Distribution. Sand hills near Aiken, Aiken County, South Carolina, and in Summerville near Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia.

128. Cratægus senta Beadl.

Leaves obovate or obovate-cuneiform, acute or sometimes rounded and frequently slightly divided into several short acute lobes at the broad apex, gradually narrowed from the middle to the entire base, and serrate or doubly serrate above with incurved conspicuously glandular teeth, when they unfold often dark red, covered above with long pale caducous hairs and villose below on the midrib and veins, nearly fully grown when the flowers open from the 1st to the 10th of May and then bright yellow-green and almost glabrous with the exception of the persistent tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the veins, and at maturity thin and firm, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, usually about 1½′ long and 1′ wide, with an orange-colored midrib, generally 3 pairs of slender primary veins extending obliquely to the point of the lobes, and dark conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning red, yellow, or brown in the autumn; petioles slender, glandular, wing-margined above, at first tomentose, becoming pubescent or nearly glabrous, about ¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate, often nearly orbicular, more deeply lobed with broad rounded or acute lobes, 2′—2½′ in diameter, their stipules lunate, coarsely glandular-dentate, sometimes ½′ long. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on long slender pedicels coated with matted pale hairs, in lax compound 3—6-flowered villose corymbs, with lanceolate straight or falcate glandular bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube broadly obconic, villose particularly toward the base, the lobes narrow, elongated, acuminate, nearly glabrous, coarsely and irregularly glandular-serrate; stamens 20; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a broad ring of hoary tomentum. Fruit ripening and falling at the end of September or early in October, on slender slightly hairy elongated pedicels, in few-fruited drooping clusters, globose, bright red, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; calyx enlarged, with closely appressed lobes; flesh yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 3—5, broad and rounded at apex, narrowed and acute at base, slightly grooved on the back, about ½′ long.

Distribution. Abandoned fields and open Pine-woods near Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, at altitudes of about 2200°.

129. Cratægus annosa Beadl.

Leaves obovate, oval, or oblanceolate, cuneate and glandular at base, sharply and often doubly glandular-serrate above, and usually slightly lobed toward the short-pointed acute apex, more than half grown when the flowers open early in April and then pale yellow-green and scurfy above, with a few short pale hairs above and below near the base of the midrib, and at maturity thin, glabrous, bright green, 1′—1½′ long, and ¾′—1′ wide, with a prominent pale yellow midrib, and remote slender veins extending very obliquely to the point of the lobes; turning in the autumn yellow, orange, or brown; petioles slender, narrowly winged above, conspicuously glandular with large dark glands, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate to obovate or suborbicular, coarsely serrate, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, sometimes 2′ long and wide, with broadly winged petioles and foliaceous coarsely dentate persistent stipules often ¾′ long. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on stout villose pedicels, in simple 3—5-flowered villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, sparingly villose toward the base, the lobes acute, glandular-serrate, glabrous on the outer surface, puberulous on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers almost white; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a broad ring of snow-white tomentum. Fruit ripening and falling late in August or early in September, subglobose or ellipsoidal, orange-red or red and orange, about ½′ long; calyx little enlarged, the lobes puberulous on the upper side and reflexed; flesh thick and soft; nutlets 3—5, broad and rounded at base, narrowed and rounded at apex, rounded and ridged on the back with a broad low rounded ridge, about /16′ long.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, covered with dark rough often black bark, stout spreading or ascending branches, and thick dull red-brown ultimately dark gray or nearly black branchlets armed with straight rather stout spines 1′—1½′ long.

Distribution. Eastern central Alabama; common near Phœnix, Lee County, and Girard, Russell County.

130. Cratægus panda Beadl.

Leaves obovate, rounded and short-pointed or abruptly narrowed and acute at the broad occasionally slightly lobed apex, concave-cuneate and glandular at the entire base, and finely serrate above with minute incurved glandular teeth, when they unfold tinged with red and sparingly villose, nearly fully grown when the flowers open the 1st of April and then roughened above by short pale rigid hairs and villose above and below on the midrib and on the veins below, and at maturity glabrous, or puberulous on the under surface of the slender midrib, subcoriaceous, light green and lustrous, glandular, 1′—1¼′ long, and ¾′—1′ wide, with slender primary veins extending very obliquely toward the end of the leaf; turning yellow-brown or orange color in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, slightly wing-margined at apex, villose early in the season, becoming glabrous, glandular, about ⅜′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate, rounded, apiculate and lobed at apex, puberulous and villose on the midrib and veins on the lower surface, often 1¾′ long and 2′ wide. Flowers ⅝′—¾′ in diameter, on slender hairy pedicels, in compact 3—5-flowered simple corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, covered with matted white hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, acuminate, glandular-serrate, more or less villose; stamens 20; anthers nearly white; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of pale hairs. Fruit ripening and falling at the end of August or early in September, on stout pedicels, in erect few-fruited clusters, globose or depressed-globose, orange-yellow, with a red cheek, ⅜′—¾′ in diameter; calyx slightly enlarged, with closely appressed often deciduous lobes; flesh thick, succulent, orange-yellow; nutlets 3—5, narrowed and acute at the ends, grooved on the rounded back with a broad shallow groove, about ¼′ long.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, covered with dark rough bark, crooked recurved branches forming an open irregular head, and stout branchlets covered at first with matted pale hairs, reddish brown and puberulous during their first season, becoming gray, and unarmed or occasionally armed with stout spines ½′—1′ long.

Distribution. Dry sandy soil near Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.

131. Cratægus integra Beadl.

Leaves obovate to oblong-obovate, narrowed from near the middle to the acute apex, concave-cuneate and gradually narrowed to the slender base, and finely serrate, nearly half grown when the flowers open about the 20th of March, and then glandular on the margins, slightly hairy on the midrib and on the under side of the veins, and at maturity subcoriaceous, bright green, lustrous, and glabrous above, paler below, 1′—1¼′ long, and about ¾′ wide, with a thin yellow midrib puberulous below, slender primary veins extending very obliquely to the end of the leaf, with 1 or 2 pairs near the middle of the blade more prominent than those below and above them; turning in the autumn yellow, orange and brown; petioles slender, narrowly wing-margined above, glandular, at first hoary-tomentose, becoming pubescent or puberulous, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broadly obovate, short-pointed at apex, slightly undulate-lobed above the middle, sometimes 1½′ long and broad. Flowers ⅝′—¾′ in diameter, on slender elongated hoary-tomentose pedicels, in 3—5-flowered simple corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, thickly covered with matted white hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, acuminate, glandular, pilose on the outer, sparingly pilose on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers pale yellow; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a thick ring of white hairs. Fruit ripening and falling in August, on slender erect pubescent pedicels, globose, red, about ½′ in diameter; calyx deciduous; flesh thin, orange-yellow, and succulent; nutlets 3—5, narrowed and acute at the base, rounded at the apex, flat and grooved on the back with a narrow shallow groove, about /16′ long.

A tree, 12°—15° high, with a trunk sometimes 8′ in diameter, covered with thick nearly black checkered bark, drooping branches forming a handsome symmetrical head, and slender very zigzag branchlets clothed when they first appear with hoary tomentum, rather bright reddish brown and roughened by minute tubercles at the end of their first season, becoming gray or grayish brown, and unarmed or armed with occasional short slender spines.

Distribution. Sandy woods and abandoned fields; central Florida; common near Eustis, Lake County, and Orlando, Orange County.

132. Cratægus recurva Beadl.

Leaves spatulate, rounded or acute or sometimes obovate and obtusely 3-lobed at apex, and finely glandular-serrate with bright red glands, nearly half grown when the flowers open about the 20th of March and then almost glabrous above, slightly hairy near the base below, and at maturity subcoriaceous, glabrous, about 1′ long and ¼′—½′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib and one pair of veins often more prominent than the others and nearly parallel with the margins of the blade; turning in the autumn yellow, orange, and brown; petioles slender, conspicuously glandular, villose when they first appear, becoming glabrous, ¼′—½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-obovate, deeply divided into narrow lateral ascending rounded lobes, concave-cuneate at base, with a stouter midrib, and veins arching to the point of the lobes, and often 1′ long and ¾′ wide. Flowers ½′—⅝′ in diameter, on stout pedicels thickly covered with matted pale hairs, solitary or in 2-flowered simple corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, pilose below, nearly glabrous above, the lobes slender, acuminate, glandular-serrate, slightly hairy on the outer surface, glabrous on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers pale yellow; styles 3—5. Fruit ripening in August, erect on short stout pedicels, obovoid, red, ½′ long; calyx little enlarged, often deciduous; flesh thick and soft; nutlets 3—5, broad and rounded at the ends, rounded and obscurely grooved on the back, about ¼′ long.

A tree, 15°—18° high, with a short trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, covered with gray or brownish rough bark, slender pendulous branches forming a broad symmetrical head, and slender very zigzag branchlets, villose early in the season, becoming bright chestnut-brown and very lustrous and ultimately dark reddish brown, and armed with numerous slender straight spines usually about ½′ long.

Distribution. Dry sandy soil, Ocala, Marion County, Florida.

133. Cratægus dispar Beadl.

Leaves broad-ovate or orbicular, 3-nerved, acute or rounded at apex, generally narrowed and cuneate or concave-cuneate at the glandular entire base, serrate or doubly serrate above with straight or incurved glandular teeth, and mostly divided above the middle into short acute lobes, when they unfold coated with long matted white hairs most abundant on the lower surface, more than half grown when the flowers open about the middle of April and then blue-green and villose above and tomentose below, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, blue-green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale and slightly pubescent on the lower surface, usually about 1′ long and ¾′—1′ wide; turning red, yellow, or brown in the autumn; petioles slender, tomentose, becoming pubescent or villose, glandular, slightly wing-margined above, usually about ⅓′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate or suborbicular, rounded at the broad base, coarsely serrate, and often deeply divided above the middle into 3 wide acute lobes broader than long. Flowers about ⅝′ in diameter, on slender hoary-tomentose pedicels, in simple 3—7-flowered corymbs, with narrow-obovate acute glandular bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, coated with hoary tomentum, the lobes narrow, acute, glandular-serrate with minute bright red glands, tomentose on the outer surface below the middle, glabrous above, tomentose on the inner surface; stamens 20; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a ring of pale tomentum. Fruit ripening late in August or early in September, on slender pubescent pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, subglobose to short-oblong, light red, puberulous toward the ends, about ⅓′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with reflexed closely appressed lobes tomentose at base; flesh thin, yellow, subacid; nutlets 3—5, rounded at the ends, ridged on the back with a broad low ridge, dark brown, ¼′ long.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a short trunk a foot in diameter, heavy ascending branches forming a broad irregular head, and stout zigzag branchlets at first hoary-tomentose, dark red-brown and pubescent during their first summer, becoming darker colored and glabrous the following season, and armed with thick or thin nearly straight dark red-brown ultimately gray spines 1½′—2′ long.

Distribution. Dry sand hills near Aiken, Aiken County, and Trenton, Edgefield County, South Carolina; more abundant at Summerville, west of Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia.

134. Cratægus aprica Beadl.

Leaves broad-obovate, oval, or rhombic, acute and short-pointed or rounded and often somewhat lobed at apex, gradually or abruptly narrowed and cuneate at the entire base, and serrate usually only above the middle with small incurved teeth terminating in conspicuous rose-colored ultimately dark red persistent glands, when they unfold deep orange color, roughened above by short pale appressed hairs and sparingly villose below, especially on the slender midrib and remote primary veins, nearly fully grown when the flowers open about the 10th of May, and at maturity thick and firm, glabrous, smooth, and dark yellow-green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 1′—1¼′ long, and 1′ wide; petioles stout, conspicuously glandular, more or less winged toward the apex, villose early in the season, becoming nearly glabrous, usually bright red on the lower side toward the base after midsummer, about ½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often nearly orbicular, frequently more deeply lobed, and 1½′—2′ long and wide, with a stout broadly winged petiole, and foliaceous lunate stipules. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on slender villose pedicels, in small 3—6-flowered compact simple corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, villose at base, glabrous above, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, acuminate, glabrous, coarsely glandular-serrate; stamens 10; anthers small, bright yellow; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of pale hairs. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, on stout glabrous or slightly villose pedicels, in erect or drooping usually 2 or 3-fruited clusters, subglobose, rarely rather longer than broad, about ½′ in diameter, dull orange-red, often slightly villose at the ends, marked by numerous small dark dots; calyx much enlarged, with wide-spreading coarsely glandular acuminate lobes bright red at base on the upper side; flesh thin, light yellow, sweet and rather juicy; nutlets 3—5, broad and rounded at the ends, rounded and ridged on the back with a broad low ridge, about ¼′ long.

A tree, occasionally 20° high, with a stem 6′—8′ in diameter, covered with deeply furrowed dark gray bark broken irregularly into small persistent plate-like scales, and becoming on old stems often nearly black, spreading often elongated contorted branches forming a broad open head, and slender zigzag branchlets dark green tinged with red and villose when they first appear, soon becoming nearly glabrous, light orange-brown at midsummer, dark reddish brown or purple before winter, and ultimately ashy gray, and armed with thin nearly straight chestnut-brown spines 1′—1½′ long; or frequently a much-branched shrub, with several stout spreading stems.

Distribution. Dry woods in the foothill region of the southern Appalachian Mountains; southwestern Virginia through western North Carolina to eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia; in northern Alabama; usually at altitudes between 1500° and 3500°; common.

XVI. Microcarpæ.

Conspectus of the Arborescent Species.

Fruit short-oblong; leaves orbicular to broad-ovate, pinnately 5—7-cleft.

135. C. apiifolia (C).

Fruit subglobose.

Leaves broad-ovate to triangular, long-stalked; calyx deciduous from the fruit.

136. C. Phænopyrum (A, C).

Leaves spatulate to oblanceolate, short-stalked; calyx generally persistent on the fruit.

137. C. spathulata (C).

135. Cratægus apiifolia Michx. Parsley Haw.

Leaves broad-ovate to orbicular, acute at apex, truncate, slightly cordate or cuneate at the broad base, and pinnately 5—7-cleft with shallow acute or deep wide sinuses, and incisely lobed with broad or acute segments serrate toward the apex with spreading glandular teeth, when they unfold pilose above with long pale hairs, and mostly glabrous below, fully grown when the flowers open late in March or early in April, and at maturity thin, bright green and rather lustrous above, paler and glabrous or pilose below on the prominent midrib and primary veins, or on occasional plants pubescent on both surfaces, ⅔′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent, becoming glabrous, 1′—1½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often divided nearly to the midrib, with foliaceous lunate coarsely glandular-serrate short-stalked stipules sometimes ½′ long. Flowers ½′ in diameter, on long slender hairy pedicels, in crowded densely villose usually 10—12-flowered corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, glabrous or covered with long matted pale hairs, the lobes lanceolate, acute, glabrous, usually glandular-serrate, often tinged with red toward the apex; stamens 20; anthers bright rose color; styles 1—3. Fruit ripening in October and persistent on the branches until the beginning of winter, short-oblong, bright scarlet, ⅓′ long; calyx prominent, the lobes elongated, reflexed, often deciduous from the ripe fruit; flesh thin; nutlets 1—3, rounded at the ends, about ⅓′ long.

A tree, occasionally 20° high, with a trunk rarely 6′—8′ in diameter, branches spreading nearly at right angles and forming a wide irregular open head, and slender more or less zigzag often contorted branchlets covered when they first appear with long pale hairs, light red or pale orange-brown and usually puberulous in their first winter, ultimately light brown or ashy gray, and armed with stout straight chestnut-brown spines 1′—1½′ long.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps or in hummocks in Pine-barrens in the coast and Piedmont regions of the south Atlantic States from southeastern Virginia to Georgia; in western Florida south to Lafayette County (near Old Town), north-central and southern Alabama, Louisiana and the coast region of Texas to the valley of the lower Colorado River (low woods, Peyton’s Creek, Matagorda County), and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma (Page, Le Flore County) and to southeastern Missouri; most abundant and of its largest size in southern Arkansas and western Louisiana.

136. Cratægus Phænopyrum Med. Washington Thorn.

Cratægus cordata Ait.

Leaves broad-ovate to triangular, acute or acuminate, truncate, broad-cuneate, rounded or cordate at the entire base, coarsely serrate above with acute spreading often gland-tipped teeth, and more or less incisely lobed or often 3-lobed, tinged with red when they unfold and sparingly pilose above with long pale caducous hairs, fully grown when the flowers open at the end of May, and at maturity thin and firm, dark green and lustrous above, pale and rarely pubescent on the lower surface, especially on the conspicuous orange-colored midrib and primary veins, 1½′—2′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide; turning late in the autumn bright scarlet and orange; petioles slender, terete, glabrous, ¾′—1½′ in length. Flowers on slender pedicels, in rather compact many-flowered glabrous corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, glabrous, the lobes short, nearly triangular, entire, abruptly contracted at apex into a minute point, glabrous on the outer, pubescent on the inner surface, ciliate on the margins; stamens 20; anthers rose color; styles 2—5, surrounded at base by conspicuous tufts of pale hairs. Fruit ripening in September and October and persistent on the branches until the spring of the following year, depressed-globose, scarlet, lustrous, ¼′ in diameter; calyx deciduous from the ripe fruit, leaving a wide circular scar surrounding the persistent erect tips of the carpels; nutlets 3—5, narrowed and acute at base, broad and rounded at apex, about ⅛′ long.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a straight trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, generally dividing 4°—5° above the ground into slender usually upright branches forming an oblong or occasionally round-topped head, slender zigzag glabrous bright chestnut-brown lustrous branchlets, becoming dark gray or reddish brown, and armed with slender sharp spines 1½′—2′ long; often much smaller, and sometimes a broad spreading bush.

Distribution. Banks of streams in rich soil; western North Carolina at altitudes of about 2000°, to middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky; in southern Missouri (St. Francois, Wayne, Shannon, Carter and Ripley Counties), and in Richland County, Illinois; now often naturalized in the middle and Ohio valley states; nowhere common. Often cultivated in the eastern states and in western Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

137. Cratægus spathulata Michx.

Cratægus spathulata var. flavanthera Sarg.

Leaves spatulate to oblanceolate, rounded or acuminate and sometimes 3-lobed at apex, gradually narrowed from above the middle to the slender concave-cuneate entire base, and crenately serrate above, nearly fully grown when the flowers open from March to May and then sparingly villose above with long white caducous hairs, and at maturity subcoriaceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, reticulate-venulose, with an obscure yellow midrib and primary veins, 1′—2′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide, clustered at the end of short lateral branchlets; petioles slender, wing-margined to the base, ⅛′—¼′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often deeply 3-lobed above the middle with rounded coarsely crenately serrate lobes, and narrowed below into a long winged petiole, 1′—2′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide, with a broad thick midrib often pilose on the lower surface, their stipules foliaceous, lunate, sharply serrate, stalked, often ½′ broad. Flowers ½′ in diameter, on long slender pedicels, in glabrous many-flowered narrow corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, glabrous, the lobes short, nearly triangular, almost entire, minutely glandular-apiculate; stamens 20; anthers pale yellow; styles 2—5. Fruit ripening in October, subglobose, bright scarlet, lustrous, about ⅛′ in diameter; calyx only slightly enlarged, with reflexed lobes; flesh thin, dry and mealy; nutlets 3—5, broad and rounded at apex, narrowed at base, /16′—⅛′ long.

A tree, 18°—25° high, with a straight trunk occasionally 8′—10′ in diameter, slender upright and spreading branches forming a broad open head, and thin zigzag glabrous light reddish brown branchlets, unarmed, or armed with straight stout light brown spines 1′—1½′ long; more often a shrub, with numerous spreading stems.

Distribution. Rich soil usually near the banks of streams or swamps, or low depressions in Pine-forests; North Carolina (near Albemarle, Stanly County) to central South Carolina, central, northwestern (Rome, Floyd County), and southwestern Georgia to northern Florida (Ocala, Marion County, to River Junction, Gadsden County); northern Alabama southward to Dallas County; eastern and western Mississippi (near Natchez, Adams County); eastern and northwestern Louisiana (Richland, Rapides, Caddo and Natchitoches Parishes); eastern Texas to the valley of the Guadalupe River (near Seguin, Guadalupe County), southeastern Oklahoma (Bennington, Bryan County), and through southern and western Arkansas to southwestern Missouri (Tanney and Jasper Counties); probably most abundant in central Georgia.

XVII. Brachyacanthæ.

Conspectus of the Arborescent Species.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate to ovate or rhombic; broad-ovate to nearly triangular on vigorous shoots; fruit subglobose to obovoid, bright blue covered with a glaucous bloom.

138. C. brachyacantha (C).

Leaves narrow-rhombic to oval; lanceolate, acuminate on vigorous shoots; fruit globose, blue-black, very lustrous.

139. C. saligna (F).

138. Cratægus brachyacantha Sarg. & Engelm. Pomette Bleue.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate to ovate or rhombic, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed to the concave-cuneate entire base, and crenulate-serrate above with minute incurved glandular teeth, slightly puberulous when they unfold on the upper surface and glabrous on the lower surface, nearly fully grown when the flowers open at the end of April and early in May, and at maturity subcoriaceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous, 1′—2′ long, and ½′ to nearly 1′ wide, with a thin inconspicuous midrib and veins; petioles slender, narrowly wing-margined above, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots sometimes broad-ovate or almost triangular, cuneate, truncate or cordate at the broad base, more or less deeply lobed, frequently 2½′ long and 2′ wide, with foliaceous broadly ovate to triangular acute stalked stipules sometimes 1′ long. Flowers ⅓′ in diameter, on slender pedicels, in crowded glabrous many-flowered corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, glabrous, the lobes short, nearly triangular, gradually narrowed to the gland-tipped apex, entire; petals turning bright orange color in fading; stamens 15—20; anthers yellow; styles 3—5. Fruit ripening and falling the middle of August, on erect pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, subglobose or obovoid, bright blue, covered with a glaucous bloom, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; calyx slightly enlarged, with spreading lobes; flesh thin; nutlets 3—5, narrowed and acute at base, full and rounded at apex, rounded and slightly grooved on the back, about ¼′ long.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, covered with thick dark brown deeply furrowed scaly bark, and divided usually 5°—10° from the ground into stout spreading light gray branches forming a broad compact round-topped head, and branchlets light green and slightly pubescent early in the season, soon becoming glabrous and pale red-brown, and ultimately ashy gray, and armed with numerous short stout generally curved or sometimes straight slender spines ⅓′—⅔′ long, and also often terminal on the lateral branchlets of vigorous shoots.

Distribution. Borders of streams in rich moist soil; southwestern Arkansas (Ashtown, Little River County, and Texarkana, Miller County) to the valley of the Trinity River (Livingston, Polk County), eastern Texas, and to western Louisiana (Caddo, Webster, Ouachita, Natchitoches, St. Landry and Jefferson Davis Parishes); in eastern Louisiana (Glen Gordon, Covington, St. Tammany Parish; common); a few miles west of Opelousas, Louisiana, surrounding with dense groves low wet prairies and a conspicuous and beautiful feature of arborescent vegetation.

139. Cratægus saligna Greene.

Leaves narrow-rhombic to oval, gradually narrowed at the ends, acute or acuminate and apiculate at apex, entire toward the base, finely serrate above with incurved teeth tipped with minute bright red glands, nearly fully grown when the flowers open toward the middle of June, and then light yellow-green, covered above with short pale hairs and pale and glabrous below, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green, glabrous and lustrous above, pale below 1½′—2′ long, and ¾′—1′ wide, with a stout midrib rose color on the upper side, dark obscure forked veins, and reticulate veinlets; turning late in the autumn to brilliant shades of orange and bright scarlet; petioles slender, glandular near the base, with 2 or 3 large stipitate dark red caducous glands, and about ⅓′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots lanceolate, acuminate, coarsely serrate, often irregularly and deeply divided into 2 or 3 acute lateral lobes, 3′—3½′ long, and 1¼′—1½′ wide. Flowers about ⅝′ in diameter, on short slender pedicels, in compact glabrous few or many-flowered corymbs; calyx-tube glabrous, the lobes nearly triangular, entire, often bright red toward the apex; stamens 20; anthers small, yellow; styles 5. Fruit ripening toward the end of September, on stout pedicels, in compact drooping clusters, globose, ¼′ in diameter, dull vinous red and very lustrous when fully grown, ultimately blue-black; calyx small, with reflexed persistent lobes; flesh thin, yellow, dry and sweet; nutlets 5, thick, rounded and slightly ridged on the back, ⅛′—/16′ long.

A tree, occasionally 20° high, with a short stem, long slender spreading branches gracefully drooping at the ends, covered with bright red or reddish brown bark, separating on old trunks near the ground into long slightly attached narrow plate-like gray scales, and slender glabrous bright red lustrous branchlets armed with numerous straight slender spines ¾′—1½′ long; often forming clumps or small thickets with numerous stems 8°—15° tall springing from a single root.

Distribution. Banks of the Cimarron, Gunnison, White, Tomichi, Eagle, San Juan, and other Colorado streams on both slopes of the continental divide at altitudes of 6000°—8000° above the sea.

XVIII. Macracanthæ.

Tomentosæ Sarg.

Conspectus of the Arborescent Species.

Leaves thin, with midrib and veins only slightly impressed on their upper surface; anthers rose color or red.

Mature leaves pale pubescent below.

Leaves ovate to ovate-oblong; fruit in erect clusters, obovoid, orange-red; stamens 20.

140. C. tomentosa (A, C).

Leaves ovate, oval, or obovate, in drooping clusters, globose to subglobose, bright red or orange-red; stamens 5—10.

141. C. Chapmanii (A, C).

Mature leaves glabrous (slightly pubescent on the midrib and veins below in 142).

Stamens 20.

Leaves elliptic to suborbicular, smooth above; fruit in drooping clusters, subglobose to short-oblong.

142. C. Gaultii (A).

Leaves elliptic, scabrate above; fruit in erect clusters, subglobose.

143. C. vegeta (A).

Stamens 10; leaves ovate, scabrate above; fruit short-oblong.

144. C. Deweyana (A).

Leaves subcoriaceous to coriaceous, with midrib and veins deeply impressed on their upper surface and pubescent below.

Anthers rose color.

Stamens 20.

Leaves elliptic, acute at the ends; fruit globose.

145. C. succulenta (A).

Leaves broadly oval or obovate; fruit subglobose to short-oblong.

146. C. gemmosa (A).

Stamens 10.

Leaves broad-obovate or oval; fruit globose, villose at the ends; calyx-lobes coarsely glandular-serrate.

147. C. illinoiensis (A).

Leaves broad-obovate to oval or rhombic; fruit subglobose; calyx-lobes entire.

148. C. integriloba (A).

Anthers yellow; stamens 10; leaves broad-obovate to elliptic or oval; fruit in erect clusters, globose.

149. C. macracantha (A).

140. Cratægus tomentosa L.

Leaves ovate, oblong-ovate, rhombic or elliptic, acute, acuminate or rarely rounded at apex, gradually narrowed to the cuneate entire base, sharply and usually doubly serrate above with broad spreading usually glandular teeth, and often divided above the middle into several short lateral lobes, nearly fully grown when the flowers open from the 1st to the middle of June, and at maturity thin and firm, gray-green, coated below with pale persistent pubescence, puberulous or ultimately glabrous above, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, 2′—5′ long, and 1′—3′ wide, with a broad midrib and slender primary veins; turning brilliant orange and scarlet in the autumn before falling; petioles stout, glandular, wing-margined, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots sometimes broad-obovate to semiorbicular, rounded and abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded at base, and 3′—4′ long and wide; more often oblong-obovate, acuminate, and 5′—6′ in length. Flowers ½′ in diameter, on slender villose pedicels, in villose corymbs; calyx-tube obconic, hoary-tomentose, the lobes lanceolate, acute, coarsely or pinnately serrate, usually glandular, stamens 20; anthers pale rose color; styles 2—5. Fruit ripening in October, on slender erect pubescent pedicels, in broad many-fruited clusters, obovoid or rarely subglobose, ½′ in diameter, erect, dull orange-red, translucent when fully ripe, mostly persistent on the branches until the following spring; flesh thick, orange-yellow, sweet and succulent; nutlets about ¼′ long and broad, rounded at the ends, the ventral cavities broad and deep.

A tree, 15°—20° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, covered with smooth pale gray or dark brown furrowed bark, slender spreading often nearly horizontal smooth gray branches forming a wide flat head, and slender branchlets covered when they first appear with thick hoary tomentum, becoming dark orange color and puberulous in their first winter, and ashy gray in their second season, and unarmed, or armed with occasional slender straight dull ashy gray or very rarely bright chestnut-brown spines 1′—1½′ long.

Distribution. Near Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, westward through New York to southwestern Ontario, through Ohio, southern Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to central Minnesota and southward to Pennsylvania and along the Appalachian Mountains to northeastern Georgia, and to central Iowa, northeastern Missouri to the valley of the Meramec River, and to eastern Kansas; near Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee; in the neighborhood of Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia; and in Dallas County, Alabama (R. S. Cocks).

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in the gardens of western Europe.

141. Cratægus Chapmanii Ashe.

Cratægus mollita Sarg.

Leaves ovate, oval, or obovate, acuminate, gradually narrowed and acute or concave-cuneate at the entire base, sharply serrate above with glandular teeth, and often slightly lobed above the middle, about half grown when the flowers open early in June and then covered above with short soft pale hairs and pale-tomentose below, and at maturity dark dull green and smooth or scabrate above, pale-tomentulose below, especially on the slender yellow midrib and primary veins, 2½′—3′ long, and 1½′—2½′ wide; turning yellow or brown in the autumn before falling; petioles stout, wing-margined at apex, tomentose early in the season, becoming nearly glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots sometimes 6′ long and 4′ wide. Flowers about ⅜′ in diameter, on long stout hoary-tomentose or pubescent pedicels, in broad many-flowered tomentose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, tomentose, the lobes acuminate, glandular-serrate, sparingly villose; stamens 10; anthers rose color; styles 2 or 3. Fruit ripening the middle of September, on elongated slightly villose pedicels, in broad lax drooping many-fruited clusters, globose to subglobose, bright red, about ⅝′ in diameter; calyx only slightly enlarged, with reflexed coarsely glandular-serrate lobes; flesh juicy, succulent, yellow; nutlets 2 or 3, about ¾′ long and nearly as broad, thin, rounded at the obtuse ends, rounded and obscurely ridged on the back, the ventral cavities broad and deep.

A tree, sometimes 20° high, with a short trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, covered with gray scaly bark, erect branches forming a broad open head, and slender branchlets hoary-tomentose early in the season, becoming bright red-brown and lustrous, and armed with occasional stout straight or curved bright chestnut-brown spines 1½′—2′ long.

Distribution. Banks of streams in the Appalachian region from Virginia to northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee; in southern Missouri (Taney County, C. mollita).

142. Cratægus Gaultii Sarg.

Leaves elliptic to suborbicular, acute or rounded at apex, concave-cuneate or rounded at the entire base, coarsely doubly serrate above with straight glandular teeth, and occasionally divided above the middle into short acute lobes, nearly fully grown when the flowers open at the end of May and then very thin, yellow-green and sparingly villose above, pale and slightly pubescent below, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, glabrous, dark dull green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 2½′—3′ long, and 2′—2¾′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib deeply impressed above, and 6 or 7 pairs of primary veins extending obliquely to the point of the lobes; petioles stout, wing-margined to below the middle, villose on the upper side early in the season with matted white hairs, becoming nearly glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers ⅝′ in diameter, on long slender slightly villose pedicels, in broad many-flowered hairy corymbs, their bracts and bractlets linear, acuminate, glandular, mostly persistent until the flowers open; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, glabrous, the lobes broad, acuminate, coarsely glandular-serrate, glabrous on the outer, villose on the inner surface; stamens 18—20; anthers pale pink; styles 2 or 3. Fruit ripening from the middle to the end of September, on slender slightly hairy pedicels, in few-fruited drooping clusters, subglobose to short-oblong, ½′—⅝′ long; calyx prominent, with spreading appressed coarsely serrate lobes; flesh thick, yellow, soft and juicy; nutlets 2 or 3, rounded at the ends, about /16′ long and nearly as wide, the ventral cavities long, deep, and narrow.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk often 10′ in diameter and 6°—7° long, spreading branches forming a broad round-topped head, and slender slightly zigzag glabrous light red-brown lustrous branchlets, unarmed, or armed with occasional straight slender dark purple shining spines 1¼′—1¾′ long.

Distribution. Open pastures, Milton Township and Gleneilyn, Du Page County, and Mokena, Will County, northeastern Illinois.

143. Cratægus vegeta Sarg.

Leaves elliptic, acuminate, gradually narrowed and concave-cuneate at the entire base, finely often doubly serrate above, with straight glandular teeth, and slightly divided above the middle into numerous short acute lobes, nearly fully grown when the flowers open at the end of May and then membranaceous, dark yellow-green and roughened above by short rigid pale hairs and densely pubescent below, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, dark dull green and scabrate on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface on the slender midrib, and 5 or 6 pairs of thin primary veins arching obliquely to the point of the lobes, 3′—4′ long, and 1¾′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, broadly wing-margined at apex, villose on the upper side early in the season, becoming glabrous and rose color in the autumn, ½′—¾′ long. Flowers ⅝′—¾′ in diameter, on long slender villose pedicels, in usually 10—12-flowered hairy corymbs, with linear to linear-obovate acute glandular bracts and bractlets becoming reddish and mostly persistent until after the flowers open; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, villose, the lobes slender, acuminate, glandular-serrate, villose; stamens 20; anthers small, light pink or red; styles 2 or 3, usually 3. Fruit ripening late in September, on slender elongated rigid slightly villose pedicels, in few-fruited erect clusters, subglobose, scarlet, lustrous, marked by small pale dots, about ⅜′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with a short tube and spreading reflexed serrate lobes; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 2 or 3, ¼′ long and nearly as broad, full and rounded at the ends, the ventral cavities broad and deep.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall straight trunk sometimes 8′ in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches forming a symmetrical round-topped head, and very slender nearly straight branchlets, light orange-green when they first appear, becoming bright red-brown and lustrous at the end of their first season and darker the following year, and unarmed, or sparingly armed with slender nearly straight purple shining spines about 4′ long.

Distribution. Oak-woods in moist rich soil near the banks of the Calumet River, Calumet, Cook County, Illinois.

144. Cratægus Deweyana Sarg.

Leaves ovate, acuminate or abruptly long-pointed at apex, abruptly narrowed and concave-cuneate at the entire often unsymmetric base, coarsely doubly serrate above with straight or incurved gland-tipped teeth, and slightly divided above the middle into several pairs of small acuminate spreading lobes, about one third grown when the flowers open during the last week of May and then membranaceous, dark yellow-green, and covered above with short lustrous white hairs, and light yellow-green and glabrous below, and at maturity thin, yellow-green and scabrate on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 3′—4′ long, and 2′—2¾′ wide, with a stout midrib deeply impressed on the upper side, and 6 or 7 pairs of thin primary veins arching to the point of the lobes; petioles stout, wing-margined at apex, deeply grooved, sparingly villose on the upper side, soon glabrous, glandular with occasional minute dark glands, usually dull orange color in the autumn, ¾′—1′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots more deeply lobed and more coarsely serrate, subcoriaceous, often 4′ long and 3½′ wide, and gradually narrowed into stout broad-winged coarsely glandular petioles, their stipules foliaceous, stipitate, lunate, acutely lobed, glandular-serrate with minute dark red glands, sometimes ½′ long, persistent through the season. Flowers about ½′ in diameter, on slender hairy pedicels, in wide lax slightly villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, villose at base, glabrous above, the lobes slender, elongated, acuminate, finely glandular-serrate usually only above the middle, dark green and glabrous on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface; stamens 7—10, usually 10; anthers small, dark rose color; styles 2 or 3, usually 2. Fruit ripening from the first to the middle of October and falling a few weeks later, on long slender puberulous pedicels, in wide many-fruited drooping clusters, subglobose to short-oblong, rounded at the ends, scarlet, lustrous, marked by occasional large pale dots, ½′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with elongated glandular-serrate lobes dark red on the upper side near the base, usually erect and incurved, mostly persistent on the ripe fruit; flesh when fully ripe thick, yellow and sweet; nutlets usually 2, occasionally 3, about /16′ long and ⅛′ wide, rounded at the ends, rounded and conspicuously ridged on the back, the ventral cavities broad and shallow.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk sometimes 10′ in diameter, covered with light gray bark becoming rough and scaly near the base, slender branches, the lower horizontal and wide-spreading, the upper ascending and forming a wide open irregular head, and stout glabrous branchlets dark orange-brown when they first appear, deep red-brown and lustrous on the upper, gray-brown and lustrous on the lower side during their first winter, becoming gray slightly tinged with red the following year, and armed with numerous stout curved chestnut-brown or purple spines 1½′—2′ long and occasionally persistent on old stems.

Distribution. Western and central New York; Hagaman swamp near Rochester, and Rush, Monroe County, Portage, Livingston County, Castile and Silver Springs, Wyoming County, and near Ithaca, Thompkins County; not common.

145. Cratægus succulenta Link.

Leaves elliptic, acute or acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed from near the middle to the entire base, coarsely and usually doubly serrate above with spreading glandular teeth, and divided above the middle into numerous short acute lobes, nearly fully grown when the flowers open at the end of May or early in June and then membranaceous, covered above with soft pale hairs, and puberulous or rarely nearly glabrous below, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green, glabrous and somewhat lustrous above, pale yellow-green and mostly puberulous below on the stout yellow midrib, and 4—7 pairs of slender veins extending obliquely to the point of the lobes and deeply impressed on the upper side, usually 2′—2½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide; petioles stout, more or less winged above, frequently bright red after midsummer, generally about ½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots occasionally ovate, and often 2½′ long and 3′ wide. Flowers about ⅔′ in diameter, on long slender hairy pedicels, in broad lax villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, villose or glabrous, the lobes broad, acute, laciniate, glandular with bright red glands, and generally villose; stamens usually 20, sometimes 15; anthers small, rose color; styles 2 or 3, surrounded at base by a ring of pale hairs. Fruit beginning to ripen about the middle of September and sometimes remaining on the branches until the end of October, on slender elongated pedicels, in broad loose many-fruited drooping clusters, globose, bright scarlet, marked by large pale dots, ½′—⅔′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with a broad shallow depression, and much enlarged coarsely serrate closely appressed persistent lobes; flesh thick, yellow, becoming juicy, sweet and pulpy; nutlets 2 or 3, ⅓′ long, ¼′ broad, prominently ridged on the back, the ventral cavities wide and deep.

A tree, occasionally 20° high, with a short trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, covered with dark red-brown scaly bark, stout ascending branches forming a broad irregular head, and stout more or less zigzag glabrous dark orange-brown lustrous branchlets becoming dull gray-brown in their second season and ultimately ashy gray, and armed with numerous stout slightly curved bright chestnut-brown shining spines 1½′—2½′ long; or usually shrubby and much smaller, and often flowering when only a few feet high.

Distribution. Coast of northeastern Massachusetts; southwestern Vermont; eastern and western New York; near London, Ontario; widely distributed in Pennsylvania; northeastern Illinois.

146. Cratægus gemmosa Sarg.

Leaves broad-oval or rarely broad-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate or occasionally rounded at the entire base, sharply and usually doubly serrate from below the middle with straight glandular teeth, and often slightly lobed toward the acute or acuminate apex with short acute lobes, dark red and villose as they unfold, nearly fully grown when the flowers open from the middle to the end of May and then membranaceous, light yellow-green, nearly glabrous above and pale and villose below, and at maturity thick and firm in texture, very dark dull green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface and pubescent on the under side of the stout yellow midrib deeply impressed and occasionally puberulous above, and on the 4 or 5 pairs of slender primary veins extending obliquely to the end of the leaf, 1½′—2½′ long, and 1′—2′ wide; petioles stout, villose or pubescent, more or less winged above, glandular while young with minute bright red caducous glands, usually pink in the autumn, ¼′—½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots more coarsely serrate, frequently divided into short acute lateral lobes, and often 4′ long and 3′ wide, with a rose-colored midrib and stout spreading primary veins. Flowers ½′—¾′ in diameter, on slender hairy pedicels, in broad open compound villose many-flowered corymbs, with lanceolate or oblanceolate acuminate glandular-serrate conspicuous bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, more or less villose with matted pale hairs, or nearly glabrous, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous or villose on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface, coarsely glandular-serrate with bright red glands; stamens 20; anthers small, rose color; styles 2 or 3, surrounded at the base by a narrow ring of pale tomentum. Fruit ripening early in October and becoming very succulent just before falling, on long slender pedicels, in drooping many-fruited glabrous or puberulous clusters, subglobose to short-oblong, scarlet, lustrous, ½′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with an elongated narrow tube, and reflexed villose lobes bright red toward the base on the upper side; flesh thick, bright yellow, sweet and succulent; nutlets usually 3, or 2, ¼′ long, broad and flat, full and rounded at the ends, ridged on the back with a prominent rounded ridge, the ventral cavities broad and deep.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a tall trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, covered with dark brown scaly bark, stout spreading or ascending branches forming a broad rather open symmetrical head, stout zigzag glabrous red-brown or gray-brown lustrous branchlets armed with straight or slightly curved thick chestnut-brown spines usually about 2′ long, and winter-buds sometimes ¼′ in diameter.

Distribution. Rich forest glades, or the margins of woods, usually in low rich soil; eastern New York, near Albany, Albany County; western New York (Munroe and Livingston Counties); southern Ontario (La Salle on the Niagara River and near London); northwestern Ohio (Oak Harbor, Ottawa County); southern Michigan; common; Illinois (Calumet, Cook County, and Manley, Fulton County); southern Wisconsin (Waukesha, Waukesha County and near Madison, Dane County).

147. Cratægus illinoiensis Ashe.

Leaves broad-obovate to oval, rounded or rarely acute at the wide apex, broad-cuneate and entire at the base, coarsely and often doubly serrate above, with straight or incurved teeth tipped with minute deciduous glands, and sometimes slightly and irregularly divided toward the apex into short acute lobes, when they unfold covered below with a thick coat of hoary tomentum and pilose above, and when the flowers open about the 20th of May membranaceous, yellow-green, covered above with short pale hairs and pubescent below, and at maturity thick and firm in texture, dark green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface, particularly on the stout midrib and 4—6 pairs of primary veins deeply impressed on the upper side, 2′—2½′ long, and 1½′—2′ wide; petioles stout, slightly winged toward the apex, generally bright red below the middle after midsummer, and usually ½′—⅔′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots usually elliptic, acute or acuminate, more coarsely dentate and more often lobed, sometimes decurrent nearly to the base of the stout petiole, 3′—4′ long, and 2½′—3′ wide. Flowers about ⅝′ in diameter, on slender slightly hairy pedicels, in broad compact villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, coated with long matted pale hairs, the lobes broad, acuminate, very coarsely glandular-serrate with large stipitate bright red glands, glabrous on the outer surface except at the base, villose on the inner surface; stamens 10; anthers rose color; styles 2 or usually 3. Fruit ripening early in October and persistent on the branches until after the beginning of winter, on stout bright red pedicels, in few-fruited drooping villose clusters, globose, scarlet, lustrous, marked by occasional dark dots, more or less villose at the ends, ½′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with a short villose tube, and spreading lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, sparingly glandular-serrate or nearly entire, villose, mostly deciduous before the fruit ripens; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 2 or 3, ¼′ long, broad and thick, rounded at the ends, the ventral cavities broad and deep.

A tree, rarely more than 18° high, with a trunk 4′—5′ in diameter, covered with thin close bark broken on the surface into pale plate-like scales, and divided into several long erect and spreading slender branches forming a wide open-topped head, and stout somewhat zigzag branchlets covered at first with scattered pale caducous hairs, bright orange-brown and lustrous during their first season, becoming dark brown in their second year and ultimately ashy gray, and armed with numerous slender straight or curved bright chestnut-brown shining spines 1½′—3′ long.

Distribution. Open woods along the gravelly banks of small streams in Stark and Peoria Counties, Illinois; not common.

148. Cratægus integriloba Sarg.

Leaves broad-obovate, oval or rhombic, acute, gradually or abruptly narrowed below the middle, entire at the cuneate base, coarsely doubly serrate above with spreading glandular teeth, and irregularly divided into numerous short acute or acuminate lobes, coated in early spring with soft pale caducous hairs, nearly fully grown when the flowers open during the first week in June, and at maturity glabrous, thin and firm in texture, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale yellow-green on the lower surface, 1½′—2′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide, with a slender midrib often dark red at the base, and 4—6 pairs of slender primary veins deeply impressed on the upper side; petioles stout, more or less broadly winged toward the apex, at first puberulous, soon glabrous, often red on the lower side, ⅓′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots more coarsely serrate, more deeply lobed, often 3′ long and 2½′ wide, with stout broadly winged petioles. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on long slender villose pedicels, in broad open crowded villose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, coated toward the base with long matted white hairs and glabrous above, the lobes linear-lanceolate, elongated, entire or very rarely furnished with occasional caducous glands; stamens 10; anthers large, rose color; styles 2 or 3, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of snow-white hairs. Fruit ripening at the end of September or early in October, on short stout pedicels, in drooping or erect many-fruited slightly villose clusters, subglobose, bright scarlet, lustrous, marked by large pale dots, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; calyx enlarged, prominent, with elongated entire lobes, dark red on the upper side at base, much reflexed and persistent; flesh thin, yellow, sweet and pulpy; nutlets 2 or 3, about ¼′ long, thick and broad, rounded at the narrow ends, the ventral cavities broad and deep.

A tree, occasionally 18°—20° high, with a straight erect trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, wide-spreading or erect branches forming an open irregular head, and stout nearly straight or occasionally slightly zigzag glabrous branchlets, lustrous and red-brown or orange-brown during their first summer and ultimately dull ashy gray, and armed with stout nearly straight bright chestnut-brown shining spines 1½′—2½′ long and often pointed toward the base of the branch.

Distribution. Low limestone ridges, Province of Quebec, south of the St. Lawrence River near the Lachine Rapids, and at Caughnawaga, Rockfield, and Adirondack Junction.

149. Cratægus macracantha Koehne.

Leaves broad-obovate to elliptic or oval, acute or rounded and sometimes short-pointed at apex, gradually or abruptly narrowed and cuneate at the entire base, coarsely and often doubly serrate above with straight or incurved gland-tipped teeth, and usually divided above the middle into numerous short acute or acuminate lobes, when they unfold often bright red and coated on the upper surface with soft pale hairs, more than half grown when the flowers open late in May and then dull yellow-green, nearly glabrous on the upper surface and pale and puberulous on the lower surface, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green and glabrous above, frequently puberulous below on the midrib, and on the 4—6 pairs of slender primary veins extending obliquely to the point of the lobes and deeply impressed on the upper side, usually 2′—2½′ long and 1½′—2′ wide; petioles stout, more or less winged above, frequently bright red after midsummer and usually about ½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often broad and rounded at base, coarsely dentate, 3′—4′ long, and 2½′—3′ wide. Flowers about ¾′ in diameter, on long slender hairy pedicels, in broad more or less villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, more or less villose or nearly glabrous, the lobes long, narrow, acuminate, glandular with minute dark glands, glabrous on the outer surface, slightly villose on the inner surface; stamens usually 10, occasionally 8—12; anthers pale yellow; styles 2—3, surrounded at the base by a broad ring of hoary tomentum. Fruit ripening at the end of September and often remaining on the branches for several weeks longer, on erect slender pedicels, in broad open many-fruited usually slightly villose clusters, globose, often hairy at the ends until nearly ripe, crimson, very lustrous, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter; calyx large and conspicuous, the lobes coarsely serrate, reflexed and persistent; flesh thin, dark yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 2 or 3, about ¼′ long and wide, broad and rounded at the ends, the ventral cavities deep and irregular.

A tree, occasionally 15° high, with a tall stem 5′—6′ in diameter, covered with pale close bark, stout wide-spreading branches forming an open rather irregular head, and stout slightly zigzag glabrous light chestnut-brown very lustrous branchlets, becoming dull reddish brown in their second year, and armed with numerous slender usually curved very sharp bright chestnut-brown shining spines 2½′—4′ long.

Distribution. Western Vermont (near Middlebury, Addison County); central and western New York; southern Ontario (near Toronto); northeastern Illinois (Barrington County); and eastern Pennsylvania (Bucks and Northampton Counties).

XIX. Douglasianæ.

Conspectus of the Arborescent Species.

Leaves subcoriaceous, lustrous above, obovate to broad-ovate, coarsely serrate, usually lobed; stamens 5—20, normally 10; spines numerous, short and stout.

150. C. Douglasii.

Leaves thinner, dull bluish green, lanceolate to oblong-obovate or elliptic, acute at the ends, finely serrate, not lobed; stamens 10—20; spines few, long and slender or wanting.

151. C. rivularis.

150. Cratægus Douglasii Lindl.

Leaves broad-obovate to ovate, gradually narrowed below to the cuneate entire base, coarsely serrate above with minute glandular teeth, and often incisely lobed toward the acute apex, nearly fully grown and coated above and on the midrib and veins below with short pale hairs when the flowers open in May, and at maturity thin, glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, 1′—2′ long, and ½′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, wing-margined above, sparingly glandular, villose early in the season, becoming glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-obovate, incisely lobed at the broad apex, often deeply divided into lateral lobes, or occasionally 3-lobed, 3′—4′ long, and 2′—3′ wide. Flowers ½′—/12′ in diameter, on long slender glabrous pedicels, in broad glabrous corymbs, with linear caducous bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube broadly obconic, glabrous, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, entire or occasionally minutely dentate, acute and bright red at apex, glabrous on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface; stamens 10 or rarely 5 by abortion; anthers small, pale rose color; styles 2—5, surrounded at base by tufts of long pale hairs. Fruit ripening and falling in August and September, on slender pedicels, in compact, many-fruited drooping clusters, short-oblong, truncate at apex, black and lustrous, very rarely chestnut-colored (f. badia Sarg.), about ½′ long; calyx persistent; flesh thick, sweet and succulent, light yellow; nutlets usually 5, about ¼′ long, narrowed at base, broad and rounded at apex, ridged on the back with a narrow ridge, the ventral cavities irregular, small and shallow.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a long trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, stout branches spreading and ascending and forming a compact round-topped head, and slender rigid glabrous bright red or orange-red lustrous branchlets unarmed, or armed with straight or slightly curved blunt or rarely acute bright red ultimately ashy gray spines ⅓′—1′ long; often shrubby and spreading into wide thickets.

Distribution. Banks of mountain streams; valley of the Parsnip River, British Columbia, through Washington and Oregon to the valley of the Pitt River, California, and eastward in the United States through the northern Rocky Mountain region to the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming; passing into the var. Suksdorfii Sarg. differing in its 20 stamens, fruit not more than ⅓′ in diameter, usually in few-fruited clusters and ripening from the 1st of July to the middle of August. A shrub with numerous stems occasionally 25° high; banks of the Columbia River and borders of bottom-lands, western Klickitat County, Washington.

151. Cratægus rivularis Nutt.

Leaves lanceolate to narrowly oblong-obovate or elliptic, acute, acuminate or abruptly acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and concave-cuneate at the long entire base, and very finely crenately serrate above with glandular teeth, when they unfold tinged with red, villose above and coated below with matted pale hairs, more than half grown when the flowers open late in May and then hairy on the midrib and veins above and pale and glabrous below, and at maturity thin, dull bluish green and smooth on the upper surface, pale yellow-green on the lower surface, about 2′ long and ¾′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib and 3 or 4 pairs of thin obscure primary veins; petioles slender, slightly winged at apex, at first villose, becoming glabrous and rose-colored below the middle, and about ½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often rhombic, coarsely serrate, often slightly incisely lobed, coriaceous, 3′ long, and 2′ wide, with a stout broadly winged petiole. Flowers ½′ in diameter, on long slender pedicels, in rather compact glabrous corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, glabrous, the lobes linear, entire or glandular with minute caducous glands, glabrous on the outer surface, sparingly villose on the inner surface, often tinged with red; stamens 10—20; anthers pale rose color. Fruit ripening in September, on long pedicels, in drooping few-fruited clusters, short-oblong, full and rounded at the ends, dark crimson and marked by many large white dots when fully grown, becoming black and lustrous at maturity, ⅓′—½′ long; calyx slightly enlarged, persistent, with elongated closely appressed entire lobes slightly villose and dark red on the upper side below the middle; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 3—5, ¼′ long, narrowed and rounded at the ends, slightly ridged on the back, the ventral cavities broad and shallow.

A tree, occasionally 20° high, with a slender trunk covered with dark brown scaly bark, erect branches forming a narrow rather open head, and slender bright red-brown lustrous branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels, and unarmed or armed with straight slender spines usually about 1′ long.

Distribution. Banks of mountain streams, often forming thickets; southeastern Idaho, (Pocatello and Inkom, Bannock County); northeastern Nevada (Lee, Elk County) to southwestern Wyoming, eastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northern New Mexico.

XX. Anomalæ.

Conspectus of the Arborescent Species.

Stamens 5—15; corymbs glabrous; leaves scabrate above.

152. C. scabrida (A).

Stamens 20; corymbs villose; leaves glabrous above.

153. C. virilis (A).

152. Cratægus scabrida Sarg.

Leaves oval to obovate, acuminate, gradually narrowed from near the middle to the acuminate base, irregularly glandular-serrate nearly to the base, and divided above into numerous short spreading lobes coated above when the flowers open at the end of May with short pale hairs, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green and scabrate on the upper surface, pale yellow-green and glabrous on the lower surface, 2′—3′ long, and 1½′—2′ wide; petioles slender, occasionally glandular, often slightly winged toward the apex, ½′—1¼′ in length. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels, in broad glabrous corymbs; calyx narrowly obconic, glabrous, the lobes linear-lanceolate, long-acuminate, finely glandular-serrate; stamens 5—15; anthers small, pale yellow; styles 3, surrounded at base by a thick tuft of pale tomentum. Fruit in loose drooping clusters, subglobose, scarlet, ½′ in diameter, only the base of the reflexed calyx-lobes persistent on the ripe fruit; flesh yellow, thick, dry and mealy; nutlets 3, rounded and prominently ridged on the back, ⅓′ long, the ventral depression wide, shallow, irregular, often obscure.

A tree, 15°—20° high, with a trunk 6′ to 8′ in diameter, spreading horizontal branches forming a broad round-topped head, and stout slightly zigzag glabrous branchlets marked by oblong pale lenticels, dark chestnut-brown during their first season, becoming ashy gray during their second year, and armed with slender straight or curved spines 1½′—2′ in length; or often a tall intricately branched shrub.

Distribution. Valley of the St. Lawrence River, near Montreal, Province of Quebec to the neighborhood of Toronto, southern Ontario; northern and western Vermont; southern New Hampshire (slopes of Little Monadnock Mountain); western Massachusetts, and western New York.

153. Cratægus virilis Sarg.

Leaves oblong-obovate, acuminate or rounded and short-pointed at apex, concave-cuneate and gradually narrowed to the acute entire base, finely doubly serrate above with straight glandular teeth, and slightly divided above the middle into 3 or 4 pairs of small acuminate lobes, nearly fully grown when the flowers open during the first week of June and then thin, yellow-green, smooth and slightly hairy above and pale bluish green and covered below with short white hairs most abundant on the stout yellow midrib and slender primary veins, and at maturity thin, glabrous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, slightly villose on the lower surface, 2½′—3′ long, and 1¾′—2′ wide; petioles stout, wing-margined often to below the middle, slightly villose on the upper side early in the season, soon glabrous, ⅗′—1′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots subcoriaceous, oval to rhombic, acuminate, often long-pointed, 3′—4′ long, and 2′—2½′ wide, with a rose-colored midrib and stout broadly winged petiole. Flowers about ½′ in diameter, on slender villose pedicels, in broad lax hairy usually 15—18-flowered corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, coated with long matted pale hairs, the lobes slender, acuminate, irregularly glandular-serrate near the middle, glabrous on the outer, slightly villose on the inner surface, reflexed after anthesis; stamens 20, anthers slightly tinged with pink, styles 4 or 5. Fruit ripening from the middle to the end of September, on puberulous reddish pedicels, in erect or spreading few-fruited clusters, short-oblong to ovoid, scarlet, lustrous, pubescent especially near the rounded ends, marked by small dark dots, ⅖′—½′ long, and about 1⅓′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with long slender spreading and reflexed coarsely serrate usually persistent lobes villose on the upper surface; flesh thin, yellow, rather dry; nutlets 4 or 5, acute at the ends, prominently ridged on the back with a broad deeply grooved ridge, generally furnished with obscure ventral depressions, about ¼′ long.

A tree, sometimes 30° high, with a short trunk frequently 1° in diameter, covered with dark scaly bark, stout ascending branches forming a narrow open irregular head, and slender nearly straight glabrous branchlets dark orange-green when they first appear, becoming light chestnut-brown, lustrous and marked by pale lenticels in their first season, and armed with stout straight or slightly curved bright chestnut-brown shining spines 1½′—2′ in length, long persistent and becoming branched on old stems.

Distribution. Fence rows, southwest of the village of Weston, near Toronto, Ontario.

8. Cowania D. Don.

Trees or shrubs with scaly bark and rigid terete branchlets. Leaves alternate, simple, lobed or rarely linear, subcoriaceous, straight-veined, glandular-dotted on the upper surface, tardily deciduous or persistent, short-petiolate; stipules adnate to the base of the petiole. Flowers solitary at the end of short lateral branches; calyx-tube turbinate, persistent, the limb 5-lobed, deciduous, the lobes imbricated in the bud; disk thin, adnate to the tube of the calyx, its margins thickened; petals 5, obovate, spreading, larger than the calyx-lobes; stamens numerous, inserted in two rows in the mouth of the calyx-tube, incurved, persistent; anthers peltate, eglandular, 2-celled, opening longitudinally; carpels 5—12, inserted in the bottom of the calyx-tube, free, villose, 1-celled; style short, villose, stigma simple, filiform; ovule solitary, ascending; raphe linear, dorsal; micropyle inferior. Fruit composed of 5—12 1-celled ellipsoidal akenes, included in the tube of the calyx, and tipped with the much elongated persistent styles covered with long white hairs; seed filling the cavity of the carpel, linear-obovoid, erect; hilum basal, minute; testa membranaceous; albumen thin; cotyledons oblong, radicle inferior.

Cowania is confined to the dry interior region of the United States and Mexico. Three species can be distinguished; of these the type of the genus, Cowania mexicana D. Don, sometimes attains the size and habit of a small tree. The genus was named in honor of James Cowan (died 1823), an English merchant who traveled in Mexico and Peru and sent plants to England.

1. Cowania mexicana D. Don.

Cowania Stansburiana Torr.
Cowania Davidsonii Rydb.

Leaves short-petioled, cuneate, revolute on the margins, 3 or rarely 5-lobed above the middle, the lobes linear, entire or slightly divided, coriaceous, dark green above, hoary-tomentose below, ⅓′—½′ long, tardily deciduous or persistent until spring; leaves on vigorous shoots and on flower-bearing branchlets occasionally linear and entire; stipules ciliate on the margins, united below and adnate to the short persistent petiole, free above the middle and acute at apex, persistent and becoming woody on the flower-bearing branchlets. Flowers appearing in early spring, 1′ in diameter; calyx-tube more or less tomentose and covered with rigid glandular hairs, the lobes rounded at apex, hoary-tomentose; petals broad-obovate, rounded and emarginate at apex, cuneate and short-stipitate below, pale yellow or nearly white. Fruit ripening in October, about ¼′ long and as long as the calyx-tube, the elongated style often 2′ in length.

A tree, occasionally 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, short spreading branches forming a narrow head, and slender rigid branchlets red and glandular during their first season, becoming dark reddish brown and glabrous the following year. Bark of the trunk pale gray, separating freely into long narrow thin loosely attached plates; more often a shrub with spreading stems often only a few feet tall.

Distribution. Dry rocky slopes and mesas, usually at altitudes between 6000° and 8000°; northern Utah and central Nevada, through Arizona and western New Mexico to northern Mexico; common and probably of its largest size near the southern rim of the Grand Cañon, and on the lower slopes of the San Francisco Mountains, Arizona.

9. Cercocarpus H. B. K. Mountain Mahogany.

Trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, rigid terete branches, short lateral spur-like branchlets conspicuously roughened for many years by the crowded narrow horizontal scars of fallen leaves, minute buds, the scales of the inner rows accrescent on the growing shoots and often colored. Leaves alternate, simple, entire or serrate, coriaceous, straight-veined, short-petiolate, persistent; stipules minute, adnate to the base of the petiole, deciduous. Flowers axillary on the short lateral branchlets, sessile or short-pedicellate, solitary or fascicled, the pedicels sometimes lengthening before the fruit ripens; calyx-tube long, cylindric, abruptly expanded at apex into a cup-shaped, 5-lobed deciduous limb, the lobes imbricated in the bud; disk thin, slightly glandular, adnate to the tube of the calyx; petals 0; stamens 15—30, in 2 or 3 rows; filaments incurved in the bud, free, short, terete; anthers oblong, pubescent or tomentose, distinct and united by a broad connective; ovary composed of a single carpel inserted in the bottom and included in the tube of the calyx, acute, terete, smooth, striate or sulcate, sericeous, rarely bicarpellate; style terminal, filiform, villose or glabrate, crowned with a minute obtuse stigma; ovule solitary, subbasilar, ascending; raphe dorsal; micropyle inferior. Fruit a linear-oblong coriaceous slightly ridged angled or sulcate akene, included in the persistent tube of the spindle-shaped calyx more or less deeply cleft at the apex, and tipped with the elongated persistent style clothed with long white hairs. Seed solitary, linear, acute, erect; hilum conspicuous lateral above the oblique base; testa membranaceous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons ovate-oblong, elongated, fleshy; radicle inferior.

Cercocarpus is confined to the dry interior and mountainous regions of North America. Twenty-one species, often of doubtful value, have been distinguished; seventeen are credited to the territory of the United States and the others to Mexico. The heavy hard brittle wood of all the species makes valuable fuel and is occasionally used in the manufacture of small articles for domestic and industrial use.

The generic name, from κέρκος and καρπός, refers to the peculiar long-tailed fruit.

Conspectus of the Arborescent Species of the United States.

Flowers usually in many-flowered clusters.

Leaves coarsely serrate above the middle.

Leaves oval to semiorbicular or obovate, hoary-tomentose below, sinuate-dentate; flowers short-pedicellate.

1. C. Traskiæ.

Leaves oval to slightly obovate, green and glabrous below, denticulate with broad apiculate teeth; flowers long-pedicellate.

2. C. alnifolius.

Leaves finely serrate above the middle, obovate to oval, pale and villose below; flowers short-pedicellate.

3. C. betuloides.

Flowers solitary or rarely in 2 or 3-flowered clusters, nearly sessile.

Leaves narrow-lanceolate, lance-elliptic or oblanceolate, acute at the ends, entire, pale or rufous below.

4. C. ledifolius.

Leaves oblong-obovate to narrow-elliptic, entire or slightly dentate below the apex, villose-pubescent.

5. C. paucidentatus.

1. Cercocarpus Traskiæ Eastw.

Leaves oval to semiorbicular or obovate, rounded or acute at apex, cuneate, rounded or occasionally somewhat cordate at the narrow base, revolute on the margins, entire below, coarsely sinuate-dentate above the middle with slender teeth tipped with minute dark glands, when they unfold covered above with soft pale hairs and below with thick hoary tomentum, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green, lustrous and villose or nearly glabrous on the upper surface, pale-tomentose on the lower surface, 1½′—2′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide, with prominent primary veins running obliquely to the point of the teeth, and, like the stout midrib, conspicuously impressed on the upper side; petioles stout, hoary-tomentose, about ¼′ in length; stipules acuminate, scarious, covered on the margins with long white hairs, ¼′ long. Flowers appearing early in March, nearly sessile, in 1—5 usually 4 or 5-flowered clusters, hoary-tomentose, ½′—¾′ long; calyx broad, glabrous on the inner surface; anthers tomentose. Fruit: mature calyx, light reddish brown, villose-pubescent, deeply cleft at apex, ½′ long; akene slightly ridged on the back, ⅓′ in length, covered with long lustrous white hairs; style 1½′—2′ in length.

A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk often inclining, usually much contorted, 2′—10′ in diameter and 6°—8° long, stout wide-spreading branches, and stout branchlets, hoary-tomentose when they first appear, marked by numerous small scattered lenticels, bright reddish brown during two or three years, ultimately dark gray-brown and conspicuously roughened by the enlarged ring-like leaf-scars. Bark light gray, sometimes slightly broken by shallow fissures and marked by irregular cream-colored blotches.

Distribution. Steep sides of a deep narrow arroyo on the south coast of Santa Catalina Island, California.

2. Cercocarpus alnifolius Rydb.

Cercocarpus parvifolius Sarg., in part, not Nutt.

Leaves occasionally persistent until late in the spring, oval to slightly obovate, rounded or rarely acute at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, and coarsely serrate above the middle with broad apiculate teeth, when they unfold covered above with soft white hairs and pale and villose on the midrib and veins below, and at maturity thick, glabrous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and yellow-green on the lower surface, 1½′—2½′ long, and 1′—2′ wide, with a stout midrib and 6—7 pairs of slender prominent veins; petioles stout, sparingly villose early in the season, soon glabrous, ⅓′—½′ long; stipules ovate, abruptly long-pointed, covered with silky white hairs. Flowers on slender hairy pedicels ⅓′—½′ long, in 2—15 usually 4 or 5-flowered clusters; calyx-tube villose, about /12′ long, the limb villose on the outer surface, ¼′ broad. Fruit: mature calyx-tube many-nerved, deeply cleft at apex, villose-pubescent, dark chestnut-brown, ⅓′—½′ long; akene covered with long silky hairs; style 2′—2½′ in length.

A tree, 12°—20° high, with one or two or three trunks, occasionally 8′ in diameter, small erect and spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets green and sparingly villose when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, and in their second year chestnut-brown and lustrous and marked by minute pale lenticels. Bark about ¼′ thick, dark reddish brown, fissured and divided into small closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Hillsides, Descanso Cañon, about a mile and a half up the coast west of Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, and on Santa Cruz Island, California.

3. Cercocarpus betuloides Nutt.

Cercocarpus parvifolius var. betuloides Sarg.

Leaves obovate to oval, acute or rounded at apex, cuneate at base, finely serrate above the middle with straight or incurved glandular teeth, dark green on the upper surface, pale and villose-pubescent or tomentose sometimes becoming nearly glabrous on the lower surface, 1′—1¼′ long, and ⅓′—½′ wide, with a thin midrib, and 5—8 pairs of slender primary veins more or less deeply impressed on the upper side of the leaf; petioles densely villose, often becoming glabrous, about ¼′ in length; stipules scarious, acuminate. Flowers nearly sessile, in 1—3-flowered clusters; calyx-tube densely villose, about ⅓′ long, the limb turbinate, villose on the outer surface, glabrous on the inner surface, ¼′ wide. Fruit on slender slightly villose pedicels ¼′—⅓′ in length; mature calyx-tube often slightly gibbous, deeply cleft at apex, light chestnut-brown, sparingly villose, /12′ in diameter; akene covered with stiff spreading hairs; style 2′—3′ in length.

A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a single trunk, small ascending and spreading branches forming an open irregular head, and slender red-brown branchlets covered when they first appear with loose pubescence, soon becoming glabrous; more often a tall or low shrub with several stems. Bark smooth, separating into thin deciduous scales.

Distribution. Common and widely distributed over the California coast ranges from Siskiyou County to the Santa Monica and San Bernardino Mountains.

4. Cercocarpus ledifolius Nutt.

Leaves narrow-lanceolate, lance-elliptic or oblanceolate, acute at the ends, apiculate, entire with thick revolute margins, coriaceous, reticulate-veined, puberulous while young, and at maturity dark green, lustrous and glabrous on the upper surface and pale or rufous and tomentulose on the lower surface, resinous, ½′—1′ long, and ⅓′—⅔′ wide, with a broad thick midrib deeply grooved on the upper side, and obscure primary veins; persistent until the end of their second summer; petioles broad, about ⅛′ in length; stipules nearly triangular. Flowers solitary, sessile in the axils of the clustered leaves, ⅔′ long; calyx hoary-tomentose. Fruit: mature calyx-tube almost ½′ long, nearly cylindric, rather larger above than below, 10-ribbed, obscurely 10-angled, slightly cleft at apex, hoary-tomentose; akene pointed at the ends, obscurely angled, chestnut-brown, ¼′ long, covered with long pale or tawny hairs; style 2′—3′ in length, generally contracted by 1 or 2 partial corkscrew twists.

A resinous slightly aromatic tree, occasionally 40° high, with a short trunk sometimes 2½° in diameter, stout spreading usually contorted branches forming a round compact head, and red-brown branchlets coated at first with pale pubescence, soon becoming glabrous, frequently covered with a glaucous bloom, silver gray or dark brown in their second year, and for many years marked by the conspicuous elevated leaf-scars. Bark red-brown, divided by deep broad furrows, and broken on the surface into thin persistent plate-like scales, becoming on old trunks 1′ thick. Wood bright clear red or rich dark brown, with thin yellow sapwood of 15—20 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Dry gravelly arid slopes at altitudes of 5000°—9000°; mountain ranges of the interior region of the United States from eastern Washington and Oregon, to lower Green and Snake River valleys, Wyoming, and through Utah and Nevada to southwestern Colorado; in California to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, the northern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, on Mt. Pinos, San Diego County, and on the northern coast mountains (Snow Mountain to Scott Mountain, Jepson).

5. Cercocarpus paucidentatus Britt.

Cercocarpus eximius Rydb.

Leaves oblong-obovate to narrow-elliptic, acute or rounded and often apiculate at apex, gradually narrowed from above the middle and acute at base, their margins revolute, often undulate, and entire or dentate toward the apex with few small straight or incurved apiculate teeth, when they unfold coated with hoary tomentum, and at maturity thick, gray-green and covered with soft white hairs or nearly glabrous on the upper surface, pale and tomentulose on the lower surface, ½′—1′ long and ¼′—½′ wide, with a thin prominent midrib and primary veins; petioles stout, tomentose, ultimately pubescent or nearly glabrous, /16′—⅕′ in length; stipules linear-lanceolate, tomentose, about half as long as the petioles. Flowers appearing from March to May and often again in August, nearly sessile, solitary, in pairs or rarely in 3-flowered clusters in the axils of the crowded leaves; calyx-tube slender, ⅙′—¼′ long, thickly covered on the outer surface, like the short rounded lobes, with long white hairs. Fruit: mature calyx-tube short-stalked, light red-brown, villose, deeply cleft at apex, about ¼′ long; akene nearly terete, covered with long white hairs; style 1′—1½′ in length.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a long straight trunk sometimes 6′—8′ in diameter, erect rigid branches forming a narrow open or irregular head, and slender bright red-brown lustrous branchlets marked irregularly by large scattered pale lenticels, covered at first with a thick coat of hoary tomentum, villose or pubescent for two or three years and ultimately ashy gray or gray tinged with red, the spur-like lateral branchlets much roughened by the ring-like scars of fallen leaves. Bark about ⅛′ thick, divided by shallow fissures and broken on the surface into small light red-brown scales.

Distribution. In forests of Pines and Oaks usually at altitudes of about 5000°, on the dry ridges of the mountains of western Texas, and of southern New Mexico and Arizona; in Arizona ranging northward to Oak Creek Cañon, near Flagstaff, Coconino County (P. Lowell); and southward over the mountains of northern Mexico.

10. Prunus B. & H. Plum and Cherry.

Trees or shrubs, with bitter astringent properties, slender branchlets, marked by the usually small elevated horizontal leaf-scars with 2 or 3 fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and small scaly buds, their scales imbricated in many rows, those of the inner rows accrescent and often colored. Leaves convolute or conduplicate in the bud, alternate, simple, usually serrate, petiolate, deciduous or persistent; stipules free from the petiole, usually lanceolate and glandular, often minute, early deciduous. Flowers in axillary umbels or corymbs, or in terminal or axillary racemes, appearing from separate buds before, with, or later than the leaves, or on leafy branches; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud; disk thin, adnate to the calyx-tube, glandular, often colored; petals 5, white, deciduous; stamens usually 15—20, inserted with the petals in 3 rows, those of the outer row 10, opposite the petals, those of the next row alternate with them and with those of the inner row, sometimes 30 in 3 rows; filaments filiform, free, incurved in the bud; anthers oval, attached on the back; ovary inserted in the bottom of the calyx-tube, 1-celled; style terminal, dilated at apex into a truncate stigma; ovules 2, suspended; raphe ventral; the micropyle superior. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe; flesh thick and pulpy or dry and coriaceous; stone bony, smooth, rugose, or pitted, compressed, indehiscent. Seed filling the cavity of the nut, suspended; seed-coat thin, membranaceous, pale brown; cotyledons thick and fleshy; radicle superior.

Prunus with about one hundred and twenty species is generally distributed over the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, and is abundant in North America, eastern Asia, western and central Asia and central Europe, ranging southward in the New World into tropical America, and to southern Asia in the Old World. Of the twenty-five or thirty species which occur in the United States, twenty-two are arborescent in habit. Several of the species bear fruits which are important articles of human food; many contain in the seeds and leaves hydrocyanic acid, to which is due their peculiar odor, and the fruit of some of the species is used to flavor cordials. The wood of Prunus is close-grained, solid, and durable, and a few of the species are important timber-trees.

Prunus is the classical name of the Plum-tree.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Species.

Flowers in sessile axillary umbels; fruit usually slightly 2-lobed by a ventral groove, generally more than ½′ in diameter, red to nearly black or yellow, often covered with a glaucous bloom. Prunophora. Plums.

Leaves convolute in the bud, their petioles usually without glands.

Leaves broad-ovate to orbicular; fruit often 1′ or more in diameter, red or yellow, nearly destitute of bloom.

1. P. subcordata (G).

Leaves ovate-lanceolate to oblong or obovate; fruit ½′ in diameter or less, blue, nearly black, red or yellow, covered with a glaucous bloom.

2. P. umbellata (C).

Leaves conduplicate in the bud.

Leaves dull dark green, usually abruptly pointed at apex.

Fruit red, rarely yellow, or blue in one form of 2 and 5; leaves oblong to obovate; stone of the fruit compressed.

Leaves crennate-serrate, their petioles biglandular; calyx-lobes glandular.

3. P. nigra (A).

Leaves sharply serrate with slender often apiculate teeth.

Leaves narrowed and usually cuneate at base.

Leaves glabrous or villose on the midrib below; petioles and calyx-lobes usually without glands.

4. P. americana (A, C, F).

Leaves pubescent below; fruit covered with a thick glaucous bloom.

Petioles eglandular or with a single gland near the apex; pedicel of the flower glabrous; calyx-tube puberulous; stone of the fruit rounded at base.

5. P. lanata (A, C).

Petioles glandular near the apex with 1—3 prominent glands; pedicel of the flower furnished near the apex, like the glabrous calyx-tube, with long white hairs; stone of the fruit pointed at base.

6. P. tenuifolia (C).

Leaves usually broad and rounded at base, ovate to elliptic or obovate, conspicuously reticulate-venulose; petioles glandular.

7. P. mexicana (C).

Fruit purple, covered with a glaucous bloom; leaves lanceolate to oblong-ovate; petioles and calyx-lobes without glands; stone of the fruit turgid.

8. P. alleghaniensis (A).

Leaves thin and lustrous, acute or acuminate, narrowed at base; petioles usually glandular; fruit red or yellow, the stone turgid.

Calyx-lobes glandular.

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblong-oval or rarely oblong-lanceolate.

9. P. hortulana (A).

Leaves elliptic to lanceolate.

10. P. Munsoniana (A, C).

Calyx-lobes without glands; leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate.

11. P. angustifolia (A, C).

Flowers in axillary umbels or corymbs; fruit bright red and lustrous, ½′ in diameter or less; leaves conduplicate in the bud. Mahaleb. Bird Cherries.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or rarely acute at apex.

12. P. pennsylvanica (A, B, F).

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, usually obtuse, occasionally acute at apex.

13. P. emarginata (B, F, G).

Flowers in terminal racemes on leafy branches of the year; fruit globose, red or rarely yellow; leaves conduplicate in the bud. Padus. Wild Cherries.

Calyx-lobes deciduous from the fruit; leaves oblong-oval or obovate, abruptly pointed, cuneate, rounded or in one form cordate at base.

14. P. virginiana (A, B, F, G).

Calyx-lobes persistent on the fruit.

Petioles biglandular near the apex.

Leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, or rarely pubescent on the midrib below.

15. P. serotina (A, C).

Leaves oval, broad-ovate or rarely obovate, acute, short-pointed or rounded at apex, villose-pubescent below.

16. P. alabamensis (C).

Leaves obovate, oval or elliptic, short-pointed or rounded at apex, covered below with rufous hairs.

17. P. australis (C).

Petioles without glands; leaves elliptic to ovate or slightly obovate, acute, rounded or abruptly short-pointed at apex, in one form rusty pubescent on the midrib below.

18. P. virens (E, F, H).

Flowers in racemes from the axils of persistent leaves of the previous year; fruit globose or slightly three-lobed; leaves conduplicate in the bud. Laurocerasus. Cherry Laurels.

Calyx-lobes rounded, undulate on the margins; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, entire or rarely remotely spinulose-serrate; fruit black, the stone broad-ovoid, acute, cylindric.

19. P. caroliniana (C).

Calyx-lobes acute, minute.

Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, entire; fruit orange-brown, the stone subglobose.

20. P. myrtifolia (D).

Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, rounded or emarginate at apex, conspicuously spinulose-dentate; fruit red, becoming purple or nearly black, the stone ovoid, short-pointed.

21. P. ilicifolia (G).

Leaves ovate to lanceolate, acuminate or abruptly short-pointed at apex, usually entire; fruit dark purple or nearly black, the stone ovoid to obovoid, short-pointed.

22. P. Lyonii (G).

1. Prunus subcordata Benth. Wild Plum.

Leaves broad-ovate or orbicular, usually cordate, sometimes truncate or rarely cuneate at base, and sharply often doubly serrate, when they unfold puberulous on the upper surface and pubescent on the lower surface, and at maturity glabrous, or puberulous below, slightly coriaceous, dark green above and pale below, 1′—3′ long and ½′—2′ wide, with a broad midrib and conspicuous veins; northward turning brilliant scarlet and orange or red and yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, usually eglandular, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acute, glandular-serrate. Flowers appearing before the leaves in March and April, ⅔′ in diameter, on slender glabrous or pubescent pedicels ¼′—½′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous or puberulous, the lobes oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, pubescent on the outer surface, more or less clothed with pale hairs on the inner surface, half as long as the obovate white petals rounded above and narrowed below into a short claw. Fruit ripening in August and September, on stout pedicels ½′—⅔′ long; short-oblong, ½′—1¼′ long, with dark red or sometimes bright yellow skin, and more or less subacid flesh; stone flattened or turgid, acute at the ends, ⅓′—1′ long, narrowly wing-margined on the ventral suture, conspicuously grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, dividing 6°—8° from the ground into stout almost horizontal branches, and glabrous or pubescent bright red more or less spinescent branchlets marked by occasional minute pale lenticels, becoming darker red or purple in their second year, and ultimately dark brown or ashy gray; or often a bush, with stout ascending stems 10°—12° tall, or a low much-branched shrub. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′ long, with chestnut-brown scales, scarious on the margins, those of the inner rows ¼′ long at maturity, oblong, acute, and generally bright red. Bark about ¼′ thick, gray-brown, deeply fissured, and divided into long thick plates broken on the surface into minute persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, pale brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Dry rocky hills and open woods usually in the neighborhood of streams, sometimes forming thickets of considerable extent; central Oregon to northeastern California in the region east of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains, and common to central California; on the foothills of the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to altitudes of 4000° south to the Yosemite Valley, and on the coast ranges to Black Mountain, Santa Clara County; of its largest size on the borders of small streams in southern Oregon and northern California; at high altitudes, and in the arid regions of southeastern Oregon a low shrub producing sparingly small sometimes pubescent fruit (var. oregona Wight); Klamath Indian Reservation, near Klamath Falls and in Sprague River Valley, Klamath County.

2. Prunus umbellata Ell. Sloe. Black Sloe.

Leaves obovate-lanceolate to oblong, acute at the ends or sometimes rounded or slightly cordate at base, finely and sharply serrate with remote incurved glandular teeth, and usually furnished with 2 large dark glands at the base, when they unfold bright bronze-green, with red margins, midrib, and petiole, glabrous above and pubescent or glabrous below with the exception of a few hairs along the prominent orange-colored midrib and primary veins, and at maturity thin, dark green above, paler below, 2′—2½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, petioles stout, glabrous or pubescent, about ⅓′ in length; stipules lanceolate, setaceous, glandular-serrate, ¼′—⅔′ long. Flowers opening in March and April before the appearance of the leaves, ⅔′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ½′ long, in 3 or 4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube broad-obconic, glabrous or puberulous, the lobes sometimes slightly clavate at the acute red apex, scarious on the margins, and hoary-tomentose on the inner surface; petals nearly orbicular, contracted at the base into a short claw. Fruit ripening from July to September, on slender stems ½′ to nearly 1′ long, globose, without a basal depression, about ½′ in diameter, with a tough thick black or on some individuals yellow, and on others bright red skin covered with a glaucous bloom, and thick acid flesh; stone flattened with thin brittle walls, ½′ long, ¼′—/16′ wide and half as thick, acute at the ends, slightly rugose, conspicuously ridged on the ventral suture, and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, sometimes 15°—20° high, with a short often crooked or inclining trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, slender unarmed branches forming a wide compact flat-topped head, and slender branchlets more or less densely coated at first with pale pubescence, soon becoming glabrous, lustrous and bright red, and in their second year dark dull brown and marked by occasional orange-colored oblong lenticels; or frequently a low shrub. Winter-buds about /16′ long, with acute chestnut-brown apiculate scales, those of the inner rows at maturity ¼′ long and red at the apex. Bark ¼′ thick, dark brown, separating into small appressed persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, dark reddish brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of about 30 layers of annual growth. The fruit is used in large quantities in making jellies and jams.

Distribution. Stanly County (near Albemarle, J. S. Holmes), North Carolina, and South Carolina southward, usually in the neighborhood of the coast, to Orange County, Florida, and westward to eastern Texas and southern Arkansas. The form with red fruit common in the interior of the Florida peninsula (Orange County). Variable in the amount of its pubescence and slightly variable in the shape of the fruit, and passing into var. injucunda Sarg. (Prunus mitis Beadl.). A small tree with branchlets hoary tomentose when they first appear, becoming pubescent, and puberulous in their second season, leaves more or less tomentose below, villose pedicels, calyx and ovary, and subglobose to short-oblong fruit. Central and southern Georgia (base of Stone Mountain and Little Stone Mountain, De Kalb County, and near Augusta, Richmond County), and eastern Alabama (near Auburn, Lee County). More distinct is

Prunus umbellata var. tarda Wight

Prunus tarda Sarg.

Differing from the type in the more oblong stone of the later-ripening fruit, lighter-colored bark and larger size.

Leaves oblong or oval, or occasionally obovate, acute or acuminate and short-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, and finely serrate with straight or incurved teeth tipped with dark minute persistent glands, when they unfold glabrous or rarely scabrous or puberulous above and cinereo-tomentose below, and at maturity thick and firm, dark yellow-green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale and pubescent or puberulous on the lower surface, especially along the prominent light yellow midrib and thin primary veins, 1½′—3′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide; petioles stout, tomentose or ultimately pubescent, ⅓′—½′ in length, glandular at apex with 2 large round stalked dark glands, or often eglandular; stipules acicular, often bright red, about ⅓′ long. Flowers appearing early in April with or before the leaves, about ¾′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels, in 2 or 3-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, glabrous toward the base, villose above, the lobes acute, entire, villose on the outer surface, hoary-tomentose on the inner surface; petals oblong-obovate, gradually contracted below into a short claw. Fruit ripening late in October or early in November, on stout rigid pedicels, short-oblong to subglobose, ⅓′—½′ long, clear bright yellow on some trees, bright red on others, and on others purple, dark blue, or black, with tough thick skin, and thick very acid flesh; stone ovoid more or less compressed, very rugose, obscurely ridged on the ventral suture and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture, acute and apiculate at apex, and rounded at base.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, wide-spreading branches forming an open symmetrical head, and slender branchlets marked by small scattered dark lenticels, light-green and hoary-tomentose when they first appear, becoming glabrous, light red-brown and lustrous during their first summer and darker at the end of their second year. Winter-buds narrow, acute, the color of the branchlets, /16′—⅛′ long. Bark ½′—⅝′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and divided by shallow interrupted fissures into flat ridges broken on the surface into small loose plate-like scales.

Distribution. Glades and open woods in the neighborhood of Marshall, Harrison County, Texas, to western Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and western Mississippi.

3. Prunus nigra Ait. Red Plum. Canada Plum.

Leaves oblong-ovate to obovate, abruptly contracted at apex into a long narrow point, cuneate, truncate or slightly cordate at base, and doubly crenate-serrate with small dark glandular teeth, when they unfold faintly tinged with red and pubescent on the under surface or glabrous with the exception of conspicuous tufts of slender white or rufous hairs in the axils of the primary veins, and at maturity thick and firm, dull dark green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 3′—5′ long and 1½′—3′ wide, with a conspicuous pale midrib and slender veins; petioles stout, biglandular at apex with 2 large dark glands, ½′—1′ in length; stipules lanceolate or on vigorous shoots often 3—5-lobed, glandular-serrate, ½′ long. Flowers appearing in early spring with or before the leaves, 1¼′ in diameter, on slender glabrous dark red pedicels, ½′—⅔′ long, in 3 or 4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube broad-obconic, dark red on the outer surface, bright red on the inner surface, the lobes narrow, acute, glandular, glabrous or occasionally pubescent on the outer surface, reflexed after the flowers open; petals broad-ovate, rounded at apex, more or less erose on the margins, contracted at base into a short claw, white, turning pink in fading. Fruit ripening from the middle to the end of August, oblong-oval, 1′—1¼′ long, with a tough thick orange-red skin nearly destitute of bloom, and yellow rather austere flesh; stone oval, compressed, 1′ long, ⅔′ wide, thick-walled, acutely ridged on the ventral suture and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk sometimes 8′—10′ in diameter, divided usually 5°—6° from the ground into a number of stout upright branches forming a narrow rigid head, stout slightly zigzag branchlets marked by numerous pale excrescences, bright green, glabrous or puberulous at first, and dark brown tinged with red in their second season, and stout spiny lateral spur-like secondary branchlets. Winter-buds acuminate, ⅛′—¼′ long, with chestnut-brown, triangular scales pale and scarious on the margins. Bark about ⅛′ thick, light gray-brown, with a smooth outer layer exfoliating in large thick plates of several papery layers, and in falling exposing the darker slightly fissured scaly inner bark. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich bright red-brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. In the alluvial soil of river valleys and on limestone hills; western New Brunswick (near the mouth of the Aroostook River) to the valley of the Saint Lawrence River and westward to the southern shore of Georgian Bay, the northern shore of Lake Superior (west of Port Arthur, Ontario), the valley of the Winnipeg River, Manitoba, and southward to northern New England, central and western New York, northern Ohio (Lorraine County), southern Michigan, northeastern Illinois, southeastern and western Wisconsin (valley of the Wisconsin River), eastern Minnesota and North Dakota.

Often cultivated in Canadian gardens and occasionally in those of the northern states as a fruit-tree or for the beauty of its flowers. Varieties are propagated by pomologists.

4. Prunus americana Marsh. Wild Plum.

Leaves oval to oblong-oval or slightly obovate, acuminate at apex, narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, and sharply often doubly serrate with slender apiculate teeth, when they unfold glabrous or slightly pubescent, and often furnished below with conspicuous axillary tufts of pale hairs, and at maturity thick and firm, more or less rugose, dark green on the upper surface, pale and glabrous on the lower surface, 3′—4′ long and 1½′—1¾′ wide, with a thin midrib glabrous or villose-pubescent on the lower side, and slender primary veins; petioles slender, eglandular or furnished near the apex with one or two glands, glabrous or puberulous, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers appearing in early spring before or with the unfolding of the leaves, 1′ in diameter, bad-smelling, on slender glabrous pedicels ⅓′—⅔′ long, in 2—5-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, bright red, glabrous or puberulous, green on the inner surface, the lobes lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, eglandular or obscurely glandular above the middle, usually dentate toward the apex, glabrous or puberulous on the outer surface, soft-pubescent on the inner surface; petals rounded and irregularly laciniate at apex, contracted below into a long narrow claw, bright red at base, ½′ long and ¼′ wide. Fruit ripening in June at the south and from the middle of August to early October at the north, subglobose or slightly elongated, usually rather less than 1′ in diameter, in ripening turning from green to orange often with a red cheek, becoming bright red when fully ripe, usually destitute of bloom and more or less conspicuously marked by pale spots, with a thick tough acerb skin and bright yellow succulent rather juicy acid flesh; stone oval slightly rugose rounded at apex, more or less narrowed at base, ¾′—1′ long and ⅖′—⅗′ wide, often as thick as broad, slightly and acutely ridged on the ventral suture and obscurely grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree 20°—35° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 1° in diameter and dividing usually 4° or 5° from the ground into many spreading branches often pendulous at the end and forming a broad graceful head and slender glabrous branchlets at first bright green, light orange-brown during their first winter, becoming darker and often tinged with red and marked by minute circular raised lenticels, and furnished with long slender remote sometimes spinescent lateral branchlets; usually spreading by shoots from the roots into broad thickets, or in the Gulf States growing with a single stem. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, the chestnut-brown scales more or less erose on the margins, the inner scales when fully grown foliaceous, ½′ long, oblong, acute, remotely serrate, with 2 narrow acuminate lateral lobes. Bark about ½′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, the outer layer separating into long thin persistent plates, southward often lighter-colored. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, strong, dark rich brown tinged with red, with thin lighter-colored sapwood. The fruit is sometimes used in the preparation of jellies and preserves, and is eaten raw or cooked.

Distribution. In the middle and northern states in rich soil, growing along the borders of streams and swamps; in the south Atlantic states often in river swamps; west of the Mississippi on bottom-lands, dry uplands and low mountain slopes; western Connecticut (Gaylordsville, Litchfield County), Eastern Greenbush, Rensselaer County and central New York to southern Ontario, central Michigan and northern Indiana, and northwestward to North Dakota, Manitoba (near Brandon), the Bitter Root Mountains, Wyoming and western Montana (Dixon, Sanders County), and southward to western Florida, central Mississippi, Alabama, eastern Louisiana, Missouri, southern Arkansas, eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, and in the Rocky Mountain region along the eastern foothills of Colorado to northern New Mexico (near Las Vegas, San Miguel County); and northeastern Utah (near Logan, Cache County); on the southern Appalachian Mountains ascending to altitudes of 3000°, and in South Carolina and Georgia extending to the immediate neighborhood of the coast; in the Rocky Mountain region usually a low shrub forming large thickets. Passing into the var. floridana Sarg., differing in its much thinner finely serrate leaves and purple fruit. A small tree without root suckers; low rich woods near St. Marks, Wakulla County, western Florida; common.

5. Prunus lanata Mack. & Bush.

Prunus americana lanata Sudw.
Prunus Palmeri Sarg.

Leaves ovate to oblong-obovate, elliptic or rarely slightly obovate, abruptly acuminate and long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rarely rounded at base, and coarsely often doubly serrate with apiculate spreading teeth, when they unfold sparingly covered above by short caducous hairs and below by long white spreading hairs, and at maturity thin, light yellow-green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale and more or less densely covered below with close soft pubescence at the south often becoming fuscous late in the season, and villose on the midrib and primary veins, 2½′—4′ long and 1½′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent, eglandular or furnished with a gland near the apex, ½′—⅔′ in length, stipules linear, acuminate, occasionally 3-lobed, villose, sparingly glandular. Flowers about ¾′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ½′—⅔′ in length, in 2—5-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, puberulous, the lobes long, acuminate, entire or rarely slightly serrate toward the apex, ciliate on the margins, puberulous and more or less tinged with red on the outer surface, pubescent on the inner surface; petals oblong-oval, narrowed and rounded at apex, gradually narrowed below into a long claw, about ¼′ wide; stamens about 25; style elongated, exceeding the stamens. Fruit on drooping glabrous pedicels, ellipsoid, deep crimson covered with a glaucous bloom, often 1′ long and ⅘′ in diameter, with thick succulent flesh; stone oblong, compressed, rounded at base, pointed and apiculate at apex, ridged on the dorsal edge with a thin narrow ridge, thin and slightly grooved on the ventral edge.

A tree 20°—30° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small erect branches and slender unarmed branchlets light yellow-green and puberulous or pubescent when they first appear, usually becoming glabrous before the end of their first season, light orange-brown during their first season and dark red-brown the following year; sometimes a shrub only a few feet tall; usually growing with a single well-developed trunk; occasionally spreading by suckers from the roots into small thickets. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′—⅙′ long, with light chestnut-brown puberulous scales ciliate on the margins. Bark pale gray-brown, exfoliating in large thin scales.

Distribution. Hillsides and river-bottom lands; southern Indiana (near Columbus, Bartholomew County, and Gordon Hills, Gibson County), through southern Illinois (Gallatin, Pope, Richland and Johnson Counties) to western Kentucky (Ballard and Hickman Counties); through Missouri and Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, western Louisiana and eastern Texas to Wilson County (Southerland Springs); through eastern Louisiana (West Feliciana and Tammany Parishes), and near Selma, Dallas County, Alabama.

6. Prunus tenuifolia Sarg.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate or elliptic, gradually narrowed and acute or acuminate and often abruptly long-pointed at apex, cuneate or often narrowed and rounded at base, finely doubly serrate with teeth pointing to the apex of the leaf, at maturity thin, dark yellow-green and sparingly covered above with short soft white hairs, paler and soft pubescent below, especially on the slender midrib, and 7 or 8 pairs of thin primary veins connected by occasional cross veinlets, 3′—4′ long and 1¼′—2′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent, becoming puberulous or nearly glabrous, glandular near the apex with 1—3 prominent dark glands, or eglandular. Flowers ⅘′ in diameter, opening from the middle to the end of March, on slender pedicels ⅖′—⅘′ long, furnished near the apex with a few long white hairs, in 2—4-flowered sessile umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, glabrous with the exception of occasional long scattered white hairs near the base, the lobes narrow, entire, or minutely dentate near the rounded apex, ciliate on the margins, pubescent on the outer surface, densely villose on the inner surface, reflexed after anthesis; petals white, ovate-oblong, narrowed and rounded at apex, crenulate above the middle, gradually narrowed below into a short claw. Fruit on stout slightly hairy or glabrous stems, oblong to oblong-obovoid, red, covered with a thick glaucous bloom, ⅗′—¾′ long and ½′—⅗′ in diameter, with a thick skin and thin flesh; stone oblong, compressed, pointed at the ends, slightly sulcate at apex, unsymmetric, ridged on the full and rounded dorsal edge with a broad thin ridge, thin nearly straight and only slightly grooved on the ventral edge, ⅖′—⅗′ long and about ½′ wide.

A tree 30° high, with a tall trunk usually about 12′ but occasionally 18′ in diameter, stout spreading branches and stout or slender glabrous branchlets light orange green when they first appear, becoming light gray or red-brown and lustrous at the end of their first season, and dark dull red-brown the following year. Bark of the trunk and large branches thick, pale gray, and broken into long plate-like scales.

Distribution. Dry Oak-woods near Jacksonville and Larissa, Cherokee County, Texas.

7. Prunus mexicana S. Wats. Big Tree Plum.

Prunus arkansana Sarg.

Leaves ovate to elliptic or obovate, abruptly long-pointed and acuminate at apex, rounded or rarely cuneate and often glandular at base, and finely doubly serrate with apiculate slender straight or slightly incurved teeth, at maturity thick, dark yellow-green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, paler and sparingly covered on the lower surface with long soft white hairs most abundant on the prominent midrib and primary veins and on the numerous conspicuous reticulate veinlets, 1¾′—3¼′ long and 1¼′—2′ wide; petioles stout, pubescent or puberulous, glandular at apex with large dark glands, or eglandular, ⅖′—⅗′ in length. Flowers appearing in March before the leaves, 1′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels in 3 or 4-flowered sessile umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, glabrous, the lobes oblong or oblong-ovate, about as long as the tube, rounded and laciniate at apex or entire, ciliate and glandular on the margins with small sessile glands, puberulous on the outer surface, hoary-tomentose on the inner surface, reflexed after anthesis; petals sometimes puberulous on the outer surface toward the base, ovate-orbicular to oblong-ovate, rounded at the narrow apex, crenulate, abruptly or gradually narrowed below into a short claw, about 3 times as long as the calyx-lobes; style longer than the stamens. Fruit ripening from the end of August to early October, subglobose to short-oblong, rounded at the ends, dark purple-red with a slight glaucous bloom, 1¼′—1⅓′ long and 1′—1¼′ in diameter, with thick succulent flesh; stone smooth obovoid to nearly circular, turgid, unsymmetric, narrowed and rounded at base, rounded or short-pointed at apex, ridged on the rounded dorsal edge with a broad thin ridge, thin, less rounded and grooved on the ventral edge, ¾′—1′ long and about ½′ wide.

A tree from 20°—25° high, with a trunk sometimes 8′—10′ in diameter, stout branches forming an open irregular head, and slender glabrous branchlets light orange-brown, very lustrous and marked by dark lenticels during their first winter and dull gray-brown the following year. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, glabrous, ¼′ long. Bark dark, nearly black or light gray, exfoliating in plate-like scales on young stems and large branches, becoming rough and deeply furrowed on old trunks.

Distribution. Open woods on rich alluvial bottom-lands, upland prairies and hillsides; southeastern Kansas (near Parsons, Labette County), through Arkansas to western Oklahoma (Navina, Logan County, Minca, Grady County), western Louisiana, northern and eastern Texas to the valley of the San Antonio River, ranging westward in Texas over the Edwards Plateau and to Brown and Palo Pinto Counties; in West Feliciana Parish, eastern Louisiana; in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.

Passing into the following varieties:

Prunus mexicana var. reticulata Sarg. Differing in its thicker leaves more often narrowed at base, with more prominent reticulate veinlets, pubescent pedicels, globose fruit ripening late in September or in October, with thin, bitter, astringent flesh and dark deeply furrowed bark.

Distribution. Uplands and along the margins of river bottoms; neighborhood of Denison and Sherman, Grayson County, northern Texas.

Prunus mexicana var. polyandra Sarg.

Differing in the narrowed base of the leaves, the more numerous stamens, in its earlier ripening fruit, with an obovoid compressed stone pointed at apex and gradually narrowed and acute at base.

Distribution. Rich woods near Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas.

Prunus mexicana var. fultonensis Sarg.

Differing in its thinner leaves pubescent below over the whole surface, and in its smaller dark bluish-purple fruit, ripening in June, with thin flesh and a compressed stone pointed at apex and gradually narrowed and acute at base.

Distribution. Rich woods near Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas.

8. Prunus alleghaniensis Porter. Sloe.

Leaves lanceolate to oblong-ovate, often long-pointed, finely and sharply serrate with glandular teeth, and furnished at base with 2 large rather conspicuous glands, when they unfold covered with soft pubescence, and at maturity puberulous on the upper surface, and glabrous with the exception of a few hairs in the axils of the veins, or covered, especially along the broad midrib and conspicuous veins, with rufous pubescence on the lower surface, rather thick and firm in texture, dark green above and paler below, 2′—3½′ long and ⅔′—1¼′ wide; petioles slender, grooved, pubescent or puberulous, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers appearing in May with the unfolding of the leaves, ½′ in diameter, on slender puberulous pedicels ½′—⅔′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, pubescent or puberulous on the outer surface, the lobes ovate-oblong, rounded at apex, scarious on the margins, and coated with pale tomentum on the inner surface; petals rounded at apex, contracted at base into a short claw, turning pink in fading. Fruit ripening the middle of August, on stout puberulous pedicels, subglobose or slightly oval to obovoid, ⅓′—⅔′ in diameter, with thick rather tough dark reddish-purple skin covered with a glaucous bloom, and yellow juicy austere flesh; stone thin-walled, turgid, two thirds as thick as broad, ¼′—½′ long, pointed at the ends, ridged on the ventral suture, and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A slender tree, occasionally 18°—20° high, with a trunk sometimes 6′—8′ in diameter, dividing into numerous erect rigid branches, and branchlets at first coated with pale caducous pubescence, becoming dark red and rather lustrous in their first winter, and ultimately nearly black, and unarmed, or sometimes armed with stout spinescent lateral spur-like branchlets. Winter-buds acuminate or obtuse, /16′ long, their inner scales accrescent, scarious, oblong, acute, ⅔′ long, bright red at apex. Bark ¼′ thick, dark brown, fissured and broken on the surface into thin persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, brown tinged with red, with thin pale sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth. The fruit is made into preserves, jellies and jams.

Distribution. Low moist soil, often forming shrubby thickets sometimes of considerable extent, and dry ridges; slopes of Tusseys Mountain in the northwestern part of Huntingdon County, and over the main range of the Alleghany Mountains into Clearfield and Elk Counties, Pennsylvania; rocky ridges near the Natural Bridge, Rockbridge County, Virginia, and lower slopes of Peak Mountain on South Fork of Buffalo Creek, Ashe County, North Carolina (W. W. Ashe), and in southern Connecticut; of its largest size on limestone bluffs south of the Little Juniata River, Pennsylvania. A shrubby variety with leaves broader in proportion to their length and less acuminate at apex (var. Davisii Wight) occurs in Roscommon and Montmorency Counties, Michigan.

9. Prunus hortulana Bailey. Wild Plum.

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblong-oval or rarely to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate and contracted at apex into a long slender point, cuneate or more or less rounded at the narrow base, and finely serrate with incurved lanceolate glandular teeth, when they unfold pilose with slender white hairs, and at maturity glabrous above, pilose below in the axils of the primary veins and along the midrib with tawny hairs, thin but firm, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface paler on the lower surface, 4′—6′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with a broad conspicuous orange-colored midrib, primary veins connected near the margins of the leaf, and prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, orange-colored, 1′—1½′ in length and furnished above the middle with numerous scattered dark glands; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, glandular-serrate, early deciduous. Flowers appearing in April or early in May when the leaves are about one-third grown, ⅔′—1′ in diameter, on slender puberulous pedicels ½′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, the lobes about as long as the tube, oblong-ovate, acute or rounded at apex, glandular-serrate, glabrous or puberulous on the outer surface, pubescent or tomentose on the inner surface chiefly toward the base, reflexed after the unfolding of the narrow oval or oblong-orbicular petals rounded and occasionally emarginate at apex, contracted below into a long narrow claw, entire, erose, or occasionally serrate, and white often marked with orange toward the base. Fruit ripening in September and October, on stout stems, globose or rarely ellipsoid, ¾′—1′ in diameter, with thick deep red or sometimes yellow lustrous skin, and hard austere thin flesh; stone turgid, ⅔′—¾′ long, compressed at the ends, abruptly short-pointed or rounded at apex, rounded or truncate at base, conspicuously ridge-margined on the ventral suture and broadly and deeply grooved on the dorsal suture, thick-walled, usually conspicuously or rarely obscurely rugose and pitted.

A tree 20°—30° high, without suckers from the roots, with a slender often inclining trunk, frequently 5′—6′ or occasionally 10′—12′ in diameter, dividing usually several feet above the ground into thick spreading branches forming a broad round-topped head, and stout rigid branchlets marked by minute pale lenticels, glabrous or slightly puberulous during their first summer, rather dark red-brown, and usually unarmed or on vigorous trees armed with stout spinescent lateral chestnut-colored branchlets; or often a shrub, with many stems forming thicket-like clumps. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, with chestnut-brown scales slightly ciliate on the margins, those of the inner ranks becoming oblong-lanceolate, acute, glandular-serrate, sometimes ½′ in length. Bark thin, dark brown, separating into large thin persistent plates, and displaying the light brown inner layers.

Distribution. Low banks of streams in rich moist soil; southwestern Illinois to Scott County, Iowa, and to eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma, and to central Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee; most abundant and of its largest size in Missouri. The handsomest of American Plum-trees, and hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts. Several selected forms are grown and valued by pomologists. Passing into var. Mineri Bailey, with darker green duller leaves, and sometimes more scaly bark. Southwestern Illinois to central Missouri; and into var. pubens Sarg. differing from the type in its pubescent leaves, petioles and young branchlets. In the neighborhood of Webb City, Jasper County, Missouri.

Often cultivated by pomologists in many selected forms.

10. Prunus Munsoniana Wight & Hedrick

Leaves elliptic to lanceolate, acute or acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base and finely glandular-serrate, when they unfold densely villose-pubescent above and glabrous below, and at maturity thin, light green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 2½′—4′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide, with a slender midrib often red and usually pubescent or sparingly villose on the lower side, and slender primary veins often furnished with small axillary clusters of white hairs; petioles slender, usually biglandular toward the apex, the groove on the upper side covered with white pubescence, often bright red, ¾′ in length; stipules linear, glandular-serrate. Flowers appearing in Texas before the leaves at the end of March and as late as May after the appearance of the leaves at the northern limits of its range, ½′—⅗′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ⅖′—1′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbel-like clusters; calyx-tube broad-obconic, glabrous, obscurely nerved, the lobes ovate, acute or acuminate, minutely glandular-serrate, glabrous or rarely slightly pubescent on the outer surface, pubescent on the inner surface below the middle; petals about ¼′ long, obovate to oblong-obovate, entire or sparingly erose, white, about ¼′ long, abruptly contracted into a short claw. Fruit ripening in July and August, subglobose to short-oblong, ¾′ long, bright red with a slight bloom, marked by pale dots and occasionally by yellow blotches, rarely yellow, with a thin skin and light or dark yellow juicy aromatic fibrous flesh often of good quality; stone oval, compressed, pointed at apex, truncate or obliquely truncate at base, thick-margined and grooved on the ventral suture, grooved on the dorsal suture, irregularly roughened on the surface, about ½′ long.

A tree spreading into dense thickets, the oldest central stem sometimes 20° high and 5′ or 6′ in diameter, diminishing in height and size to the margin of the thicket, with erect, rarely slightly spinescent branches, and slender glabrous red-brown lustrous branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels. Winter-buds obtuse, chestnut brown, glabrous, rarely more than ⅛′ long. Bark thin, usually smooth and reddish or chestnut-brown on young stems, becoming gray or grayish brown and separating into thin plate-like scales on older trunks.

Distribution. Usually in rich soil; southern Illinois (Alexander, Gallatin, Pope, Johnson and Richland Counties); southwestern Kentucky; central Tennessee; northern Mississippi; central Missouri to southeastern Kansas, and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, western Louisiana (Natchitoches and Lincoln Parishes), and northern Texas (west to Clay and Lampasas Counties); now occasionally naturalized from cultivated trees in eastern Texas, and eastward to Georgia, eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, and in northern Missouri. Hardy in eastern Massachusetts and western New York.

Cultivated in orchards, a tree sometimes 20°—30° tall with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, and rather small wide-spreading branches forming a handsome round-topped head. Selected forms of the wild plants are valued by pomologists who have produced several hybrids by crossing Prunus Munsoniana with other American and with Old World species. The “Wild Goose Plum,” one of the best known forms of Prunus Munsoniana, has flowered and produced fruit for many years in the Arnold Arboretum.

11. Prunus angustifolia Marsh. Chickasaw Plum.

Leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, pointed at the ends, apiculate at apex, and sharply serrate with minute glandular teeth, glabrous or at first sometimes furnished with axillary tufts of long pale hairs, bright green and lustrous on the upper, paler and rather dull on the lower surface, 1′—2′ long and ⅓′—⅔′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous or puberulous, biglandular near the apex with 2 conspicuous red glands, bright red, ¼′—½′ in length; stipules linear or lobed, glandular-serrate, ½′ long. Flowers appearing before the leaves from the beginning of March at the south to the middle of April at the north, ⅓′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ¼′—½′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous, the lobes oblong, obtuse, entire ciliate on the margins with slender hairs, pale-pubescent on the inner surface, reflexed at maturity; petals obovate, rounded at apex, contracted at base into a short broad claw, white or creamy white. Fruit ripening between the end of May and the end of July, globose or subglobose, about ½′ in diameter, bright red or yellow, rather lustrous, nearly destitute of bloom, with a thin skin, and juicy subacid flesh; stone turgid, rugose, compressed at the ends, nearly ½′ long, more or less thick-margined on the ventral suture and grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 15°—25° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 8′ in diameter, slender spreading branches, and bright red and lustrous branchlets glabrous or covered at first with short caducous hairs, becoming in their second year dull, darker and often brown, marked with occasional horizontal orange-colored lenticels, and frequently armed with long thin spinescent lateral branchlets; spreading into thickets. Winter-buds acuminate, /16′ long, with chestnut-brown scales. Bark about ⅛′ thick, dark reddish brown and slightly furrowed, the surface broken into long thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, although rather soft, not strong, light brownish red with lighter colored sapwood. The fruit is often sold in the markets of the middle and southern states.

Distribution. Widely naturalized especially in the south Atlantic and Gulf states from southern Delaware and Kentucky to central Florida and eastern Texas, occupying the margins of fields and other waste places near human habitations usually in rich soil; probably native in central Texas and Oklahoma. Passing into var. varians Wight & Hedrick, differing from the type in its usually larger leaves occasionally up to 2½′ in length and to 1′ in width, in the longer pedicels of the flowers and in the ovoid to ellipsoid often pointed stone of the red or yellow later ripening fruit. A tree usually spreading into thickets, occasionally 12° high with a trunk 4′ or 5′ in diameter, small branches and slender often spinescent chestnut-brown branchlets. Usually in richer soil than the type, southwestern Kansas (Arkansas City, Desha County), through eastern Oklahoma and southern Arkansas to northern and central Texas (Cherokee County); now occasionally naturalized in the eastern Gulf States and possibly indigenous in Dallas County, Alabama, and Orange County, Florida.

A number of selected forms of this variety, including most of those formerly referred to Prunus angustifolia, are grown and valued in southern orchards but are not hardy in the north.

12. Prunus pennsylvanica L. Wild Red Cherry. Bird Cherry.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, sometimes slightly falcate, acuminate or rarely acute, and finely and sharply serrate with incurved teeth often tipped with minute glands, when they unfold bronze-green, pilose below and slightly viscid, soon becoming green and glabrous, and at maturity bright and lustrous on the upper surface, rather paler on the lower surface, 3′—4½′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide; turning bright clear yellow some time before falling in the autumn; petioles slender, glabrous or slightly pilose, ½′—1′ in length, and often glandular above the middle; stipules acuminate, glandular-serrate, early deciduous. Flowers appearing in early May when the leaves are about half grown, or at the extreme north and at high altitudes as late as the 1st of July, ½′ in diameter, on slender pedicels nearly 1′ long, in 4 or 5-flowered umbels or corymbs; calyx-tube broad-obconic, glabrous, marked in the mouth of the throat by a conspicuous light orange-colored band, the lobes obtuse, red at apex, and reflexed after the flowers open; petals ¼′ long, nearly orbicular, contracted at base into a short claw, creamy white. Fruit ripening from the 1st of July to the 1st of September, globose, ¼′ in diameter, with a thick light red skin, and thin sour flesh; stone oblong, thin-walled, slightly compressed, pointed at apex, rounded at base, about /16′ long, and ridged on the ventral suture.

A tree, with bitter aromatic bark and leaves, 30°—40° high, with a trunk often 18′—20′ in diameter, regular slender horizontal branches forming a narrow usually more or less rounded head, and slender branchlets light red and sometimes slightly puberulous when they first appear, soon glabrous, bright red, lustrous and covered with pale raised lenticels in their first winter, and developing in their second year short thick spur-like lateral branchlets and then covered with dull red bark marked by bright orange-colored lenticels, the outer coat easily separable from the brilliant green inner bark; at the extreme north often a low shrub. Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoid, acute, about /12′ long, with bright red-brown acute scales, ciliate on the margins. Bark of young stems and of the branches smooth and thin, bright reddish brown, becoming on old trunks ⅓′—½′ thick, and separating horizontally into broad persistent papery dark red-brown plates marked by irregular horizontal bands of orange-colored lenticels and broken into minute persistent scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thin yellow sapwood. The fruit is often used domestically and in the preparation of cough mixtures.

Distribution. Newfoundland to the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and westward in British America to the eastern slopes of the coast range of British Columbia in the valley of the Frazer River, and southward through New England, New York, northern Pennsylvania, central Michigan, northern Illinois, central Iowa, and on the Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina and Tennessee; common in all the forest regions of the extreme northern states, growing in moist rather rich soil; often occupying to the exclusion of other trees large areas cleared by fire of their original forest-covering; common and attaining its largest size on the western slopes of the Big Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Passing into var. saximontana Rehd. differing from the type in its shorter and broader, more coarsely serrate leaves, usually fewer flowered sessile umbels, larger fruit, and smaller size. The Rocky Mountain form; common from Manitoba, the Flathead Lake region, Montana, and northern Wyoming, southward through Colorado.

13. Prunus emarginata Walp. Wild Cherry.

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, rounded and usually obtuse or sometimes acute at apex, cuneate and furnished at base with 1 or 2 and sometimes 3 or 4 large dark glands, and serrate with minute subulate glandular teeth, when they unfold puberulous or pubescent on the lower surface and slightly viscid, and at maturity glabrous or pubescent below (var. mollis S. Wats.), 1′—3′ long, ⅓′—1½′ wide, dark green above and paler below; petioles usually pubescent, ⅛′—¼′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, glandular-serrate, deciduous. Flowers appearing when the leaves are about half grown, at the end of April at the level of the ocean or as late as the end of June at high altitudes, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, on slender pedicels from the axils of foliaceous glabrous glandular-serrate bracts, in 6—12-flowered glabrous or pubescent corymbs 1′—1½′ long; calyx-tube obconic, glabrous or puberulous, bright orange-colored in the throat, the lobes short, rounded, emarginate or slightly cleft at apex, sometimes slightly glandular on the margins, reflexed after the flowers open; petals obovate, rounded or emarginate at apex, contracted below into a short claw, white faintly tinged with green. Fruit ripening from June to August, on slender pedicels, in long-stalked corymbs often 2′ long, globose, ¼′—½′ in diameter, more or less translucent, with a thick skin bright red at first when fully grown, becoming darker and almost black, and thin bitter astringent flesh; stone ovoid, turgid about ⅛′ long, pointed and compressed at the ends, with thick brittle slightly pitted walls, ridged and prominently grooved on the ventral suture and rounded and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, occasionally 30°—40° high, with exceedingly bitter bark and leaves, a trunk 12′—14′ in diameter, slender rather upright branches forming a symmetric oblong head, and slender flexible branchlets coated at first with pale pubescence, dark red-brown during their first winter, bright red, conspicuously marked by large pale lenticels in their second season, and furnished with short lateral branchlets; frequently a shrub especially at high altitudes, with spreading stems 3°—10° tall forming dense thickets. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′ long, with chestnut-brown scales often slightly scarious on the margins, those of the inner ranks becoming acuminate, glandular-serrate above the middle, with bright red tips, scarious, and ½′ long. Bark about ¼′ thick, with a generally smooth dark brown surface marked by horizontal light gray interrupted bands and by rows of oblong orange-colored lenticels. Wood close-grained, soft and brittle, brown streaked with green, with paler sapwood of 8—10 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Usually near the banks of streams in low rich soil, or less commonly on dry hillsides; valley of the upper Jocko River, Montana, on the mountain ranges of Idaho and Washington and of southern British Columbia to Vancouver Island, and southward on the coast and interior ranges to the neighborhood of the bay of San Francisco, on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to altitudes of 5000°—6000° above the sea to the head of Kern River, on the Santa Lucia, San Rafael, and San Bernardino Mountains, California, on the Washoe Mountains, Nevada, and the mountains of northern Arizona; of its largest size on Vancouver Island, in western Oregon and Washington, and on the Santa Lucia Mountains; on the coast ranges of middle California and on the Sierra Nevada commonly a shrub 5°—8° high.

14. Prunus virginiana L. Choke Cherry.

Leaves oval, oblong or obovate, abruptly short-pointed at apex, cuneate, rounded or rarely slightly cordate at base, and sharply often doubly serrate with spreading subulate teeth, glabrous when they unfold or furnished below with axillary tufts of pale hairs, and at maturity dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, light green or pale on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long and 1′—2′ wide; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, biglandular near apex, or on vigorous shoots sometimes many-glandular, ½′—1′ in length; stipules lanceolate, about ½′ long, early deciduous. Flowers opening from April to the end of June, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels from the axils of scarious caducous bracts, in erect or nodding racemes 3′—6′ in length; calyx-tube cup-shaped, globose, the lobes short, obtuse, laciniate and more or less glandular on the margins; petals orbicular, contracted into a short claw, white; filaments and pistil glabrous, the short thick style abruptly enlarged into a broad orbicular stigma. Fruit globose or occasionally slightly elongated, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, lustrous, bright red at first when fully grown, becoming at maturity scarlet, dark vinous red or nearly black, or rarely bright canary color (var. leucocarpa S. Wats.), with a thick lustrous skin, and dark juicy flesh, austere and astringent, becoming at maturity less astringent and sometimes edible; stone oblong-ovoid broadly ridged on one suture and acute on the other.

A tree occasionally 20°—25° high, with a straight trunk sometimes 6′—8′ in diameter, small erect or horizontal branches, and slender glabrous red-brown or orange-brown lustrous branchlets marked by pale lenticels, becoming dark red-brown in their second year; more often a large or small shrub, at the north frequently not more than 2°—3° tall. Winter-buds acute or obtuse, with pale chestnut brown scales rounded at apex and more or less scarious on the margins, those of the inner rank becoming lanceolate or ligulate, sharply and often glandular-serrate, and ½′—1′ in length. Bark strongly and disagreeably scented, about ⅛′ thick, slightly and irregularly fissured, separating on the surface into small persistent dark red-brown scales, and often marked by pale irregular excrescences. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with thick lighter-colored sapwood of 15—20 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Margins of the forest, generally in rich rather moist soil, and along highways and fence-rows; Newfoundland, through Labrador to the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and southward to the valley of the Potomac River and northern Kentucky; in Buncombe and Iredell Counties, North Carolina, and Talladega County, Alabama, and westward to Saskatchewan, eastern North and South Dakota and Nebraska, northeastern Missouri and Kansas; more often a tree southward and in cultivation. Passing into the var. melanocarpa Sarg. with rather thicker rarely lanceolate leaves, and usually darker often less astringent rarely yellow (f. xanthocarpa Sarg.) fruit.

Distribution. Low valleys and the slopes of mountain ranges; Manitoba, western North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, westward to northern British Columbia, and southward in the Rocky Mountain region through Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, Colorado, Utah and Nevada to southern New Mexico and Arizona, and through Washington, Oregon and California to San Diego County; in the rich soil of valleys a tree sometimes 30° tall; on dry mountain slopes a shrub 2° or 3° high. More distinct is

Prunus virginiana var. demissa Sarg.

Cerasus demissa Nutt.

Differing in its often cordate leaves covered below with pale pubescence.

Distribution. Prairies and valleys of western Washington and Oregon, southward to Siskiyou, Napa, Santa Cruz and Kern Counties, California, in northern Nebraska, central Iowa, western Texas (Gamble’s Ranch, Armstrong County, with pubescent leaves cuneate at base), and in New Mexico.

Passing into var. demissa f. pachyrrachis Sarg. (Padus valida Woot. & Stanl.) differing in the cuneate or rounded base of the leaves, villose pubescent on the midrib and veins below, in the stouter pubescent rachis and pedicels, and in the pubescent branchlets usually becoming glabrous at the end of their second season.

Distribution. Common on the mountains of southwestern New Mexico (Sierra County) and rarely in southern California.

15. Prunus serotina Ehrh. Wild Black Cherry. Rum Cherry.

Prunus eximia Small.

Leaves oval, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, gradually or sometimes abruptly acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, finely serrate with appressed incurved callous teeth, and furnished at the very base with 1 or more dark red conspicuous glands, when they unfold slightly hairy below on the midrib, and often bronze-green, and at maturity glabrous, thick and firm, subcoriaceous, dark green and very lustrous above, paler below, 2′—6′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with a thin conspicuous midrib rarely furnished toward the base with a fringe of rusty tomentum and slender veins; in the autumn turning clear bright yellow before falling; petioles slender, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, glandular-serrate, ½′—¾′ in length, early deciduous. Flowers appearing when the leaves are about half grown, from the end of March in Texas to the first week of June in the valley of the St. Lawrence River. ¼′ in diameter, on slender glabrous or puberulous pedicels from the axils of minute scarious caducous bracts, in erect or ultimately spreading narrow many-flowered racemes 4′—6′ long; calyx-tube saucer-shaped, glabrous or puberulous, the lobes short, ovate-oblong, acute, slightly laciniate on the margins, reflexed after the flowers open, persistent on the ripe fruit; petals broad-obovate, pure white. Fruit ripening from June to October, in drooping racemes, depressed-globose, slightly lobed, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, dark red when fully grown, almost black when ripe, with a thin skin, and dark purple juicy flesh of a pleasant vinous flavor; stone oblong-obovoid thin-walled, about ⅓′ long, acute at apex, gradually narrowed at base, broadly ridged on the ventral suture and acute on the dorsal suture.

A tree, with bitter aromatic bark and leaves, sometimes 100° high, with a trunk 4°—5° in diameter, small horizontal branches forming a narrow oblong head, and slender rather rigid glabrous branchlets at first pale green or bronze color, soon becoming bright red or dark brown tinged with red, red-brown or gray-brown and marked by minute pale lenticels during their first winter, and bright red the following year; usually much smaller and occasionally toward the northern limits of its range shrub-like in habit. Winter-buds obtuse, or on sterile shoots acute, with bright chestnut-brown broad-ovate scales keeled on the back and apiculate at apex, those of the inner ranks becoming scarious at maturity, acuminate, and ½′—⅔′ long. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, broken by reticulated fissures into small irregular plates scaly on the surface, and dark red-brown, or near the Gulf-coast light gray or nearly white. Wood light, strong, rather hard, close straight-grained, with a satiny surface, light brown or red, with thin yellow sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth; largely used in cabinet-making and the interior finish of houses. The bark, especially that of the branches and roots, yields hydrocyanic acid used in medicine as a tonic and sedative. The ripe fruit is used to flavor alcoholic liquors.

Distribution. Nova Scotia westward through the Canadian provinces to Lake Superior, and southward through the eastern states to central (Lake County) Florida, and westward to eastern South Dakota, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, central Oklahoma and the valley of the east fork of the Frio River, Texas; usually in rich moist soil; once very abundant in all the Appalachian region, reaching its greatest size on the slopes of the high Alleghany Mountains from West Virginia to Georgia, and in Alabama; sometimes on low sandy soil, and often in New England on rocky cliffs within reach of the spray of the ocean; not common in the coast region of the southern states.

A form from the summits of Whitetop Mountain, Virginia, with larger and rather thicker leaves pale below and rather larger fruit, has been described as var. montana Britt.

16. Prunus alabamensis Mohr. Wild Cherry.

Leaves oval, broad-ovate, or occasionally obovate, acute, short-pointed or rounded at apex, cuneate, rounded or rarely slightly obcordate at base, and finely serrate with incurved teeth tipped with minute or sometimes near the base of the blade with larger dark glands, when they unfold coated below and on the upper side of the midrib with fine pubescence, and at maturity thick and firm in texture, 4′—5′ long, about 2′ wide, dark dull green and glabrous on the upper surface, dull and covered on the lower surface with short simple or forked accrescent hairs most abundant and sometimes rufescent on the slender midrib and primary veins; petioles stout, tomentose, becoming pubescent, eglandular or occasionally furnished near the apex with 1 or 2 large dark glands, ¼′—½′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, glandular-serrate, bright red, ½′ long, caducous. Flowers appearing during the first week of May, when the leaves are about half grown, ¼′ in diameter, on pubescent pedicels from the axils of ovate or obovate acuminate bright pink caducous bracts, in spreading or erect slender pubescent racemes 3′—4′ long; calyx-tube broad, cup-shaped, puberulous, with short almost triangular lobes persistent on the fruit; petals white, nearly orbicular. Fruit ripening late in September, subglobose to short-oblong, ⅓′ in diameter, dark red or finally nearly black, with thin acid flesh; stone ovoid somewhat compressed, pointed at the ends, ¼′ long, ridged on the ventral suture with a broad low ridge, and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a short trunk rarely 10′ in diameter, spreading somewhat drooping branches, and slender branchlets coated at first with pale tomentum, dark red-brown during their first season, becoming nearly glabrous before winter, and much darker in their second year. Bark of the trunk dark, rough, separating freely into small thin scales.

Distribution. Summits of the low mountains of central Alabama; rare and local.

17. Prunus australis Beadl. Wild Cherry.

Leaves obovate, oval or elliptic, gradually narrowed and obtusely short-pointed or sometimes acute at apex, rounded or occasionally cuneate at the narrowed base, and finely serrate with slender teeth tipped with minute dark red glands, when they unfold membranaceous, pale yellow-green and glabrous above, with the exception of occasional pale hairs along the midrib, and coated below with pale or ferrugineous pubescence, and at maturity thin but firm, dark dull green above, covered below with rufous hairs most abundant on the thin broad midrib, and on the slender primary veins extending nearly to the margins of the leaf, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, 2½′—4′ long and 1½′—2½′ wide; petioles rusty-tomentose, biglandular at apex with large dark glands, about ¼′ in length; stipules linear to linear-lanceolate, glandular, bright rose color, ¼′—½′ long. Flowers probably opening toward the end of April, on short pedicels from the axils of minute rose-colored caducous bracts, in slender spreading hoary-pubescent racemes 3′—4′ long; the expanded flowers not known. Fruit ripening and falling late in July, on pedicels ¼′ long, globose, surrounded at base by the calyx-lobes and remnants of the stamens, dark purple when fully ripe, and about ¼′ in diameter, with thin flesh; stone ovoid, compressed, rounded at base, pointed at apex, about ⅙′ long and broad, ridged on the ventral suture, with a low broad ridge, slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, sometimes 60° tall, with a trunk 12′—16′ in diameter, spreading or ascending branches forming an oblong head, and slender branchlets coated at first with pale pubescence, becoming puberulous, dull red-brown, and roughened by numerous small pale elevated lenticels at the end of their first season, and glabrous or puberulous in their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, about /12′ long, with acute dark red-brown glabrous scales. Bark of young stems and of the branches thin, silvery gray, and roughened by long horizontal lenticels, becoming on older trunks ⅓′ thick, ashy gray or brownish black, deeply fissured and broken into thick persistent plate-like scales.

Distribution. Clay soil at Evergreen, Conecut County, Alabama; common.

18. Prunus virens Shrive. Wild Cherry.

Padus virens Woot. & Stanl.
Prunus serotina, ed. 1, in so far as relates to western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Leaves elliptic, ovate or rarely slightly obovate, acute, rounded or occasionally acuminate or abruptly narrowed into a short obtuse point at apex, rounded or broad-cuneate at base, finely crenately serrate, glabrous, light green and lustrous on the upper surface, lighter green and glabrous on the lower surface, 1½′—2′ long and ¾′—1′ wide, with a slender midrib, thin veins and reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, glabrous or rarely slightly villose, without glands, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers appearing when the leaves are nearly fully grown from the first to the middle of May, ¼′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels, in erect or spreading many-flowered glabrous or puberulous racemes 3′—6′ long; calyx-tube saucer-shaped, glabrous, /16′ wide, persistent under the fruit, the lobes short-pointed, acute, persistent; petals broad-obovate, pure white. Fruit ripening in August and September, in erect or spreading racemes, subglobose to short-oblong, purplish black and lustrous at maturity, ¼′—½′ in diameter, with thin juicy acrid flesh; stone compressed, slightly obovoid ¼′ in diameter, with a low broad ridge on the ventral suture, and rounded on the dorsal suture.

A tree in sheltered cañons sometimes 25°—30° high, with a trunk 18′ or 20′ in diameter, small, usually drooping or occasionally wide-spreading branches, and slender glabrous red-brown pendulous branchlets marked by small pale lenticels, becoming gray-brown in their second year; on open mountain slopes a shrub with numerous erect stems and usually smaller leaves. Winter-buds acute or acuminate, /16′—⅛′ long, with slightly villose red-brown scales. Bark near the base of old trunks ¼′ thick, nearly black, deeply fissured and broken on the surface into thin persistent scales, higher on the trunk and on small stems thin, smooth, reddish or gray-brown, lustrous and marked by many narrow oblong pale horizontal lenticels.

Distribution. Guadalupe Mountains, western Texas, over the mountain ranges of southern New Mexico and Arizona, extending northward in Arizona to the cañons of the Colorado plateau south of the Colorado River; widely and generally distributed at altitudes between 5000° and 8000°, but nowhere abundant. Passing into var. rufula Sarg., differing in the rusty brown pubescence on the lower side of the midrib of the leaves, in the pubescent petiole and lower part of the rachis, in the puberulous ovary, and in the rusty brown pubescence of the young branchlets.

Distribution. With the species on many of the mountain ranges of southern New Mexico and Arizona at altitudes between 5400° and 6000°.

19. Prunus caroliniana Ait. Wild Orange. Mock Orange.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, mucronate, with entire thickened slightly revolute margins, or rarely remotely spinulose-serrate, glabrous, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 2′—4½′ long and ¾′—1½′ wide, and obscurely veined, with a narrow pale midrib; persistent until their second year; petioles stout, broad, orange-colored; stipules foliaceous, lanceolate, acuminate. Flowers appearing from February to April, on slender pedicels about ½′ long, from the axils of long-acuminate scarious red-tipped bracts, in dense racemes shorter than leaves; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, the lobes small, thin, rounded, undulate on the margins, reflexed after the flowers open, deciduous; petals boat-shaped, minute, cream-colored; stamens exserted, orange-colored, with glabrous filaments and large pale anthers; ovary gradually narrowed into a slender erect style enlarged above into a club-shaped stigma. Fruit ripening in the autumn, remaining on the branches until after the flowering period of the following year, oblong, short-pointed, black and lustrous, ½′ long, with a thick skin, and thin dry flesh; stone short-ovoid, pointed, nearly cylindric, about ½′ long, full and rounded at base, with thin fragile walls, obscurely ridged on the ventral suture and deeply grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a straight or inclining trunk sometimes 10′ in diameter, slender horizontal branches forming a narrow oblong or sometimes a broad head, and glabrous branchlets marked by occasional pale lenticels, slightly angled, at first light green, becoming bright red, and in the second season light brown or gray. Winter-buds acuminate, ⅛′ long, covered with narrow pointed dark chestnut-brown scales rounded on the back. Bark about ⅛′ thick, gray, smooth or slightly roughened by longitudinal fissures, and marked by large irregular dark blotches. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light red-brown or sometimes rich dark brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood. The partially withered leaves and young branches are often fatal to animals browsing upon them, owing to the considerable quantities of hydrocyanic acid which they contain.

Distribution. Deep rich moist bottom-lands; valley of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, to the shores of Bay Biscayne and the valley of the Kissimee River, Florida, and through southern Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to the valley of the Guadalupe River, Texas; in Bermuda; in the Atlantic and eastern Gulf states usually only in the immediate neighborhood of the sea, rarely ranging inland more than fifteen or twenty miles; common along the borders of hummocks in the center of the Florida peninsula and a characteristic tree on those in the region of Lake Apopka, Orange County; in Alabama ranging inland to Dallas County (Pleasant Hill, T. B. Harbison); most abundant and of its largest size in the valleys of eastern Texas, and here often forming great impenetrable thickets.

Often cultivated in the southern states as an ornamental plant and to form hedges; and when cultivated occasionally 50°—60° high, with a trunk 3° in diameter.

20. Prunus myrtifolia Urb.

Prunus sphærocarpa Sw.

Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, gradually or abruptly contracted into a broad obtuse point, or less commonly rounded or rarely emarginate at apex, cuneate at base, entire, with slightly thickened undulate margins, glabrous, eglandular, subcoriaceous, yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, obscurely veined, 2′—4½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide; persistent; petioles slender, orange-brown, ½′ to 1′ in length; stipules foliaceous, lanceolate, acuminate, entire, ¼′ long, early deciduous. Flowers opening in Florida in November, ⅛′ in diameter, on thin orange-colored pedicels ¼′—⅔′ long, in slender many-flowered erect racemes shorter than the leaves; calyx-tube obconic, bright orange-colored on the outer surface, marked by an orange band in the throat, the lobes thin, minute, acute, laciniate on the margins, deciduous, much shorter than the obovate rounded or acuminate white petals marked with yellow on the inner surface toward the base, contracted below into a short claw, reflexed at maturity; stamens exserted, with slender orange-colored subulate filaments and small yellow anthers; ovary sessile, contracted into a short stout style, terminating in a large club-shaped stigma. Fruit produced in Florida very sparingly, ripening either in the spring or early summer, subglobose to short-oblong, apiculate, orange-brown, ⅓′—½′ long, with thin dry flesh; stone thin-walled, cylindric, slightly narrowed at apex, and obscurely ridged on the ventral suture.

A glabrous tree, in Florida rarely 30°—40° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, thin upright branches and slender orange-brown branchlets, becoming ashy gray or light brown tinged with red and marked by small circular pale lenticels. Bark of the trunk thin, smooth or slightly reticulate-fissured, light brown tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light clear red, with thick pale sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, rich hummock land, occasionally in the neighborhood of small streams and ponds near the shore of Bay Biscayne and on Long Key in the Everglades, Dade County; through the West Indies to Brazil.

21. Prunus ilicifolia Walp. Islay.

Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, rounded or emarginate at apex, narrowed and rounded or truncate at base, with thickened coarsely spinosely toothed margins, the stout teeth near the base of the leaf often tipped with large dark glands, thick and coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, paler and yellow-green below, 1′—2½′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib and obscure veins; deciduous during their second summer; petioles broad, ⅛′—½′ in length; stipules acuminate, obscurely denticulate, ¼′ long. Flowers opening from March to May, ⅓′ in diameter, on short slender pedicels from the axils of acuminate scarious bracts ¼′ in length and mostly deciduous before the opening of the flower-buds, in slender erect racemes 1½′—3′ long; calyx-tube cup-shaped, orange-brown, the lobes minute, acuminate, reflexed at maturity, deciduous, about one third as long as the obovate white petals rounded above and narrowed below into a short claw; stamens slightly exserted, with slender incurved filaments and minute yellow anthers; ovary sessile, abruptly contracted into a slender style usually bent near the summit at a right angle or rarely erect, and surmounted by a large orbicular stigma. Fruit ripening in November and December, subglobose, often compressed, ½′—⅔′ in diameter, dark red when fully grown, purple or sometimes nearly black at maturity, with thin slightly acid astringent flesh; stone ovoid slightly compressed, ½′—⅝′ long, short-pointed at apex, with thin brittle walls, light yellow-brown, conspicuously marked by reticulate orange-colored vein-like lines and with 3 orange bands radiating from the base to the apex along one suture, and with a single narrow band along the other suture.

A glabrous tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk rarely 2° in diameter or more than 10°—12° long, stout spreading branches forming a dense compact head, and branchlets at first yellow-green or orange color, soon becoming gray or reddish brown and more or less conspicuously marked by minute pale lenticels, and in their second or third years by the large leaf-scars; usually much smaller and often a shrub sometimes only a foot or two high. Winter-buds acuminate, with dark red scales contracted into a long slender point, those of the inner ranks accrescent and persistent on the young branchlets until these have reached a length of several inches. Bark ⅓′—½′ thick, dark red-brown, and divided by deep fissures into small square plates. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light red-brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 8—10 layers of annual growth; occasionally used for fuel.

Distribution. Borders of streams and moist sandy soil in the bottoms of cañons, and as a low shrub on dry hillsides and mesas from Solano County and the shores of the Bay of San Francisco southward through the coast ranges of California to the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, and the valley of the San Jacinto River; in Lower California southward to the western slopes of the San Pedro Mártir Mountains.

Generally cultivated as an ornamental plant in California and occasionally in western and southern Europe.

22. Prunus Lyonii Sarg.

Prunus integrifolia Sarg.

Leaves ovate to lanceolate, acuminate or abruptly narrowed into a short point at apex, cuneate, truncate or rounded at base, with thickened revolute undulate entire or occasionally, especially on vigorous shoots, remotely and minutely spinulose-dentate margins, glabrous, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, reticulate-venulose, 2′—3′ long and ½′—2½′ wide, with a stout midrib and obscure veins; persistent; petioles stout, yellow, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers appearing from March to June, about ¼′ in diameter, on slender pedicels from the axils of acuminate caducous bracts, in crowded many-flowered glabrous racemes 3′—4′ long; calyx-tube cup-shaped, orange-brown, the lobes acute, apiculate, reflexed after the flowers open, deciduous, about one third as long as the obovate petals rounded and undulate above and narrowed below into a short claw; stamens slightly exserted, with incurved filaments and small yellow anthers; ovary raised on a short stipe, the style bent near the apex and terminating in a large orbicular stigma. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, on stout pedicels, in drooping few-fruited racemes, subglobose to short-oblong, dark purple or nearly black at maturity, 1′—1¼′ in diameter, with thick luscious flesh sometimes ¼′ thick; stone ovoid to obovoid, slightly compressed, thin-walled, about ¾′ long, pointed at apex, pale yellow-brown, conspicuously marked by reticulate orange-colored lines, and by 3 dark bands radiating from base to apex along one suture, and by a single narrow line on the other suture.

A bushy tree, sometimes 25°—30° high, with one or several stout erect or spreading stems 1°—3° in diameter, spreading branches forming a broad compact head, and stout branchlets light yellow-green when they first appear, becoming light and ultimately dark reddish brown, and much roughened by the large elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds acute or obtuse, with dark red scales. Bark of the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick and dark reddish brown. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, pale reddish brown, with hardly distinguishable sapwood.

Distribution. Islands of southern California, in all situations from the fertile valleys and cañons at the water’s edge up to altitudes of 3000° on the dry interior ridges; in Lower California.

11. Chrysobalanus L.

Trees or shrubs, with stout branchlets covered with pale lenticels, and fibrous roots. Leaves alternate, entire, coriaceous, short-petiolate, persistent; stipules minute, deciduous. Flowers perfect, short-pedicellate, small, creamy white, in axillary or terminal dichotomously branched slender canescent cymes, with conspicuous deciduous bracts; calyx turbinate-campanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, without bracts, deciduous; disk thin, adnate to the calyx-tube; petals 5, alternate with the lobes of the calyx, spatulate, deciduous; stamens (in the arborescent species) indefinite in a single continuous series, inserted with the petals on the margin of the disk; filaments filiform, hairy, free or slightly united at base; anthers ovoid, ovary sessile in the bottom of the calyx-tube, pubescent or glabrous, 1-celled; style rising from the base of the ovary, filiform, terminated by a minute truncate stigma; ovules 2, collateral, ascending; raphe dorsal; the micropyle inferior. Fruit a fleshy 1-seeded drupe with pulpy flesh, a coriaceous or crustaceous stone 5 or 6-angled toward the base and imperfectly 5 or 6-valved, the valves reticulate-veined. Seed erect; seed-coat chartaceous, light brown; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons thick and fleshy; radicle inferior, very short.

Chrysobalanus is represented in the south Atlantic states by a shrubby species confined to the coast region from Georgia to Alabama, and by an arborescent species, an inhabitant of the shores of southern Florida, and widely distributed through the maritime regions of tropical America, and found in various forms on the coast of western tropical Africa. The insipid fruit of the arborescent species is eaten by negroes; the seeds contain a considerable quantity of oil; and the astringent bark, leaves and roots have been used in medicine.

The generic name is from χρυσός and βάλανος, in allusion to the supposed golden fruit of one of the species.

1. Chrysobalanus icaco L. Cocoa Plum.

Leaves broad-elliptic or round-obovate, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, cuneate at base, glabrous, coriaceous, obscurely reticulate-veined, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, light yellow-green on the lower surface, 1′—3½′ long and 1′—2½′ wide, with a broad conspicuous midrib rounded on the upper side and thin primary veins, standing on the branches at an acute angle and appearing to be pressed against them; petioles stout, ⅛′—¼′ in length; stipules acuminate, ⅛′ long. Flowers ⅓′ long, on short thick club-shaped hoary-tomentose pedicels, in cymes 1′—2′ in length; appearing in Florida continuously during the spring and summer months on the growing branches; calyx hoary-tomentose, the lobes nearly triangular, acute, more or less pubescent on the inner surface and about half as long as the narrow white petals; ovary hoary-pubescent; style long and slender, clothed nearly to the apex with pale hairs. Fruit nearly globose or oval-ovoid, 1½′—1¾′ in diameter, with a smooth bright pink, yellow, or creamy white skin, white sweet juicy flesh often ¼′ thick, and more or less adherent to the stone rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex, 5 or 6-angled below the middle, about 1′ long and twice as long as broad, indehiscent or finally separating into 5 or 6 valves, the walls composed of a thin red-brown dry outer layer and a thick interior layer of hard woody fibre; seed-coat lined with a thick white reticulated fibrous coat.

Usually a broad shrub 10°—12° high, forming dense thickets, with erect branches and dark red-brown branchlets thickly covered for four or five years with lenticels, occasionally on the borders of low hummocks arborescent with reclining or rarely erect stems 20°—30° long and 1° in diameter, or on the margins of ocean beaches often not more than 1° or 2° tall. Bark dark red-brown and scaly, separating into long thin scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light brown often tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of about 10 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, saline shores, river banks and low hummocks, Cape Canaveral to Bay Biscayne, and on the west coast from the mouth of the Caloosahatchie River to the southern keys; through the West Indies to southern Brazil, and on the tropical west coast of Africa. Passing into

Chrysobalanus icaco var. pellocarpa DC.

Differing from the type in its rather larger leaves spreading and less crowded on the branches, its oblong to oblong-obovoid dark purple or nearly black usually rather smaller fruit, and in its long-acuminate and more prominently angled stone.

A tree, 20°—30° or rarely 50° high, with an erect trunk 12′—16′ in diameter, erect and spreading branches forming a wide open head, and slender branchlets marked by scattered pale lenticels; often smaller and occasionally a shrub. Bark gray slightly tinged with red and covered with small closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Florida, banks of streams and borders of the Everglades, near Little River to the Everglade keys, Dade County; on the Bahama Islands and in Jamaica.

XXIII. Leguminosæ.

Trees or shrubs, with alternate usually compound leaves, regular or papilionaceous usually perfect flowers; stamens 10 or indefinite, with diadelphous or distinct filaments and 2-celled anthers, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary superior, 1 or many-celled, inserted on the bottom of the calyx. Fruit a legume. Of the four hundred and thirty genera of the Pea-family now recognized and widely distributed in all temperate and tropical regions, eighteen have arborescent representatives in the United States.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Genera.

Subfamily 1. Mimosoideæ. Calyx 4—6-toothed, the teeth valvate in the bud; petals as many as the teeth of the calyx, valvate in the bud; ovules numerous, suspended in 2 ranks from the inner angle of the ovary, superposed, anatropous, the micropyle superior; stamens much exserted; leaves twice pinnate; cotyledons oval or orbicular, flat; radicle straight.

Stamens numerous (more than 10); seeds without albumen.

Filaments more or less united into a tube.

Filaments united.

Valves of the legume not separating at maturity from the margins.

1. Pithecolobium.

Valves of the legume separating at maturity from the persistent margins.

2. Lysiloma.

Filaments free or the inner ones slightly united at base.

3. Acacia.

Stamens 10; filaments free; seeds with albumen.

Legume plano-compressed, dehiscent; flowers in globose heads.

4. Leucæna.

Legume terete or compressed, indehiscent; flowers in cylindric spikes.

5. Prosopis.

Subfamily 2. Cæsalpinioidæ. Calyx 5-lobed or toothed, the divisions usually valvate in the bud; corolla imperfectly papilionaceous or nearly regular; petals 5, imbricated in the bud, the upper petal inside and inclosed by the others; stamens 10 or less; filaments free; anthers introrse; ovules numerous (sometimes 2 in one species of Gleditsia), superposed, anatropous, the micropyle superior; seeds albuminous.

Flowers imperfectly papilionaceous; calyx 5-toothed; legume flat, wing-margined; leaves simple

6. Cercis.

Flowers regular.

Flowers polygamous or diœcious.

Calyx-tube elongated, 5-lobed; petals 5; stamens 10, shorter than the petals; legume thick and woody; leaves twice pinnate.

7. Gymnocladus.

Calyx-tube short, 3—5-lobed; petals 3—5; stamens 3—5, longer than the petals; legume leathery; leaves once and twice pinnate.

8. Gleditsia.

Flowers perfect.

Legume linear, torulose, acuminate at the ends, the valves contracted between the seeds; rachis of the leaf spinescent.

9. Parkinsonia.

Legume oblong, compressed; rachis of the leaf not spinescent.

10. Cercidium.

Subfamily 3. Papilionatæ. Calyx of 5 more or less united sepals; corolla of 5 irregular petals, papilionaceous, the upper petal (standard) larger than the others and inclosing them in the bud, usually turned backward or spreading, the 2 lateral petals (wings) oblong, exterior to the 2 lower connivent more or less united petals (keel) inclosing the stamens and pistil; stamens 10, 9 of them united into a tube cleft on the upper side, the 10th and upper stamen separate, or all distinct; ovary 1 or many-celled by cross partitions; ovules amphitropous, the micropyle superior; seeds usually without albumen; leaves once pinnate.

Stamens distinct.

Flowers in racemes; legume terete, contracted between the seeds.

11. Sophora.

Flowers in panicles; legume compressed.

12. Cladrastis.

Stamens diadelphous (9 and 1).

Flowers in racemes.

Leaves glandular-dotted.

Leaves many-foliolate; petals free and distinct.

13. Eysenhardtia.

Leaves simple; wings and keel-petals adnate to the tube of the stamens.

14. Dalea.

Leaves without glandular dots.

Legume compressed; stipules becoming spinescent, persistent.

15. Robinia.

Legume turgid, the valves unequally convex by the growth of the seeds.

Leaves 10—15-foliolate, without stipules or stipels; petals purple or violet.

16. Olneya.

Leaves 3-foliolate, with minute stipules and gland-like stipels; petals usually scarlet.

17. Erythrina.

Flowers in axillary panicles; pod linear, longitudinally 4-winged.

18. Ichthyomethia.

1. Pithecolobium Mart.

Trees or shrubs, with slender branches armed with the persistent spinescent stipules. Leaves petiolate, bipinnate, the pinnæ few-foliolate, their rachis generally marked by numerous glands between the pinnæ and between the leaflets. Flowers perfect or polygamous, from the axils of minute bracts, in pedunculate globose heads or oblong cylindric spikes, their peduncles in terminal panicles or axillary fascicles; calyx campanulate, short-toothed; corolla funnel-shaped, the petals as many as the teeth of the calyx, joined for more than half their length; stamens numerous, united at base into a tube free from the corolla; anthers minute, versatile; ovary stipitate, contracted into a slender filiform style, with a minute terminal stigma. Legume compressed, 2-valved, dehiscent, the valves continuous or interrupted within. Seeds compressed, suspended transversely; funicle filiform or expanded into a fleshy aril; hilum near the base of the seed; seed-coat thin or thick, marked on each of the 2 surfaces of the seed by a faint oval ring or oblong depression; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; the radicle included or slightly exserted.

Pithecolobium with more than a hundred species is widely distributed through the tropical and subtropical regions of the two worlds, and is most abundant in tropical America. Of the four species found within the territory of the United States three are arborescent.

The generic name, from πίθηξ and ἐλλὸβίον, relates to the contorted fruit of some of the species.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Species.

Pinnæ with 1 pair of leaflets; valves of the legume much contorted after opening; seed surrounded by the enlarged ariloid funicle.

1. P. unguis-cati (D).

Pinnæ with more than 1 pair of leaflets; valves of the legume not contorted after opening; funicle of the seed not enlarged and ariloid.

Pinnæ with 3—5 pairs of leaflets; legume short-stalked, the valves submembranaceous; seeds not in separate compartments.

2. P. brevifolium (E).

Pinnæ with 2—3 pairs of leaflets; legume sessile, the valves thick and woody, tardily dehiscent; seeds in separate compartments.

3. P. flexicaule (E).

1. Pithecolobium unguis-cati Mart. Cat’s Claw.

Zygia Unguis-Cati Sudw.

Leaves persistent, long-petiolate, with a single pair of bifoliolate pinnæ and a slender petiole ½′—1′ long and slightly and abruptly enlarged at base; rachis glandular between the short stout petiolules and between the orbicular or broad-oblong leaflets, rounded and rarely emarginate at apex, rounded on one side and cuneate on the other of the oblique base, entire, thin or somewhat coriaceous, reticulate-veined, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface and paler on the lower surface, ½′—2′ long, and ½′—1½′ wide. Flowers polygamous, pale yellow, glabrous or slightly puberulous, opening in Florida in March and continuing to appear until midsummer, in globular heads on slender peduncles 1′—1½′ long fascicled in the axils of upper leaves or collected in ample terminal panicles, their bracts lanceolate, acuminate, chartaceous, ¼′ long, caducous; calyx rather less than /12′ long, broadly toothed, one quarter as long as the acuminate petals barely exceeding the tube formed by the union of the filaments; stamens purple, ½′ long; ovary glabrous, long-stalked, minute or rudimentary in the sterile flower. Fruit slightly torulose, stipitate, rounded or acute at apex, 2′—4′ long, ¼′—½′ wide, the valves reticulate-veined, thickened on the margins, bright reddish brown and after opening greatly and variously contorted; seeds irregularly obovoid or sometimes nearly triangular, compressed or thickened, dark chestnut-brown, lustrous, marked by faint oval rings, ⅓′ long, surrounded at base by the enlarged bright red ariloid funicle; seed-coat thin, cartilaginous.

A tree, sometimes 20°—25° high, with a slender trunk 7′—8′ in diameter, ascending and spreading branches forming a low flat irregular head, and slender somewhat zigzag branchlets slightly striately angled when they first appear, becoming terete, light gray-brown or dark reddish brown, covered with minute pale lenticels, and armed with the straight persistent rigid stipular spines broad at base and ¼′ long, or rarely minute; more often a shrub, with many vine-like almost prostrate stems. Bark of the trunk ¼′ thick, reddish brown and divided by shallow fissures into small square plates. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, rich red varying to purple, with thin clear yellow sapwood. The bark is astringent and diuretic, and was once used in Jamaica as a cure for many diseases.

Distribution. Florida, Captive and Sanibel Islands and Caloosa, Lee County to the southern keys; most abundant in its arborescent form on the larger of the eastern keys, and probably of its largest size in Florida on Elliott’s Key; often forming shrubby thickets; on the Bahamas, and common and widely distributed through the Antilles to Venezuela and New Granada.

2. Pithecolobium brevifolium Benth. Huajillo.

Zygia brevifolia Sudw.

Leaves 2′—3′ long, 2′ wide, with eight to ten 10—20-foliolate pinnæ and slender terete petioles 1′ in length and furnished near the middle with a dark oblong gland, when they unfold coated with pale tomentum and at maturity glabrous with the exception of the puberulous petiole and rachis; persistent or tardily deciduous; leaflets oblong-linear, obtuse or acute at apex, oblique at base, very short-petiolulate, light green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, ⅙′—¼′ long. Flowers white to violet-yellow, in globose or oblong heads ½′ in diameter, on thin pubescent peduncles bracteolate at apex, coated at first, like the flower-buds, with thick white tomentum, developed usually in pairs from the axils of lanceolate acute scarious deciduous bracts, and arranged in short terminal racemes; calyx shortly 5-lobed, puberulous on the outer surface, about /24′ long and one fourth the length of the puberulous petals persistent with the stamens at the base of the mature legume; stamens nearly ½′ long. Fruit ripening at midsummer and often persistent on the branches after opening until the trees flower the following year, straight, slightly torulose, short-stalked, contracted at apex into a short slender point, 4′—6′ long and ⅔′ wide, its valves thin, thick-margined, reddish brown on the outer surface, yellow tinged with red on the inner surface, reticulate-veined; seeds suspended by a slender coiled and somewhat dilated funicle, compressed, ovoid to nearly orbicular, dark chestnut-brown, very lustrous, ¼′ long, and faintly marked by large oval depressions; seed-coat thin, cartilaginous.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a trunk rarely 5′—6′ in diameter, slender upright branches forming a narrow irregular head, and branchlets slightly striately angled, covered with minute white lenticels, light gray and puberulous when they first appear, becoming dark brown in their second year, and armed with stout rigid stipular spines sometimes ½′ long and persistent for many years; more often a shrub, sometimes only 2°—3° tall. Bark of the trunk smooth, light gray somewhat tinged with red, and often marked by large pale blotches. Wood dark-colored, hard, and heavy.

Distribution. Bluffs and bottom-lands of the lower Rio Grande, and on the upper Nueces River in Uvalde County, Texas; usually a low shrub spreading into broad clumps, but occasionally in the rich and comparatively moist soil of the banks of river-lagoons a slender tree; in Mexico more abundant, and of its largest size from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon.

3. Pithecolobium flexicaule Coult. Ebony.

Zygia flexicaulis Sudw.

Leaves persistent, 1½′—2′ long, 2½′—3′ wide, long-petiolate with slender puberulous petioles glandular near the middle and furnished at apex with small orbicular solitary glands, and 4—6 usually 6-foliolate pinnæ, the lowest pair often the shortest; leaflets oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, reticulate-veined, thin or subcoriaceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, ¼′—⅓′ long; petiolules short and broad. Flowers light yellow or cream color, very fragrant, sessile in the axils of minute caducous bracts, appearing from June until August, in cylindric dense or interrupted spikes 1½′ long, on stout pubescent peduncles fascicled in the axils of the upper leaves of the previous year; corolla four or five times as long as the calyx and like it puberulous on the outer surface, and about as long as the tube formed by the union of the filaments; stamens ⅛′ long; ovary glabrous, sessile. Fruit ripening in the autumn and remaining on the branches until after the flowering season of the following year, sessile, tardily dehiscent, thick, straight or slightly falcate, oblique at base, rounded and contracted into a short broad point at apex, pubescent, 4′—6′ long and 1′—1¼′ wide, with thick woody valves lined with a thick pithy substance inclosing and separating the seeds; seeds suspended on a very short straight funicle, bright red-brown, ½′ long and ¼′ wide, irregularly obovoid, faintly marked by short oblong depressions; seed-coat thick, crustaceous.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, separating 8°—10° from the ground into short spreading branches forming a wide round head, and stout zigzag branchlets, puberulous, light green or dark reddish brown when they first appear, becoming in their second year glabrous or rarely puberulous, dark reddish brown or light gray, and armed with the persistent stipular pale chestnut-brown spines ¼′—½′ long. Wood exceedingly heavy, hard, compact, close-grained, dark rich red-brown slightly tinged with purple, with thin clear bright yellow sapwood; almost indestructible in contact with the ground and largely used for fence-posts; valued by cabinet-makers and for fuel, and considered more valuable than that of any other tree of the lower Rio Grande valley. The seeds are palatable and nutritious, and are boiled when green or roasted when ripe by the Mexicans, who use their thick shells as a substitute for coffee.

Distribution. Shores of Matagorda Bay, Texas, to the Sierra Nevada of Nuevo Leon, and in Lower California; common on the bluffs of the Gulf-coast and on both banks of the lower Rio Grande; south of the Rio Grande one of the commonest and most beautiful trees of the region.

2. Lysiloma Benth.

Trees or shrubs, with slender unarmed branchlets, abruptly bipinnate long-petiolate persistent leaves, their petioles marked by large conspicuous glands, and small leaflets in many pairs; stipules large, membranaceous, persistent or deciduous. Flowers perfect or rarely polygamous, minute, usually white or greenish white, from the axils of minute bractlets more or less dilated at apex, in globose many-flowered heads, on axillary solitary or fascicled peduncles; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed; corolla funnel-shaped, of 5 petals united for more than half their length; stamens generally 12—30, exserted; filaments filiform, united at base into a tube free from the corolla; anthers minute, ovoid, versatile; ovary sessile, contracted into a slender subulate style, with a minute terminal stigma. Legume broad, straight, compressed, submembranaceous, the valves at maturity separating from the undivided margins, continuous within, their outer layer thin and papery, dark-colored, the inner rather thicker, pale yellow. Seeds compressed, transverse, suspended by a long slender funicle, the hilum near the base; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; radicle slightly exserted.

Lysiloma with about ten species inhabits tropical America from southern Florida and the Bahama Islands, the West Indies, Mexico and Lower California, to Central America and Bolivia. Several of the species produce valuable timber.

The generic name, from λύσις and λῶμα, refers to the separation of the valves from the margins of the legume.

1. Lysiloma bahamensis Benth. Wild Tamarind.

Leaves 4′—5′ long, glabrous or sometimes slightly puberulous, with slender petioles 1′ long, marked near the middle with an elevated gland, enlarged and slightly glandular at base, and 2—6 pairs of short-stalked 40—80-foliolate pinnæ; stipules foliaceous, ovate or ovate-oblong, acuminate, auriculate and semicordate at base, ½′ long, usually caducous; leaflets obliquely ovate or oblong, obtuse or acute, more or less united at base by the greater development of one of the sides, sessile or short-petiolulate, entire, reticulate-veined, light green, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, ¼′—½′ long, and ⅛′—¼′ wide. Flowers about ⅓′ long, in heads appearing in Florida early in April, coated before the flowers open with thick pale tomentum, and after the exsertion of the stamens ⅔′ in diameter, on peduncles ¾′—1½′ long, solitary or fascicled in the axils of upper leaves, their bracts and bractlets acute, membranaceous, caducous; calyx 5-toothed, pilose on the outer surface, especially above the middle, /12′ long, and half as long as the 5-lobed corolla with reflexed lobes; stamens about 20, twice as long as the corolla, united for one fourth of their length into a slender tube. Fruit ripening in the autumn and persistent on the branches until after the flowering period of the following year, stipitate, gradually narrowed and acute at the ends, 4′—5′ long, 1′ broad, with a slender stem 1′—2′ long, in clusters of 2 or 3 on short peduncles abruptly and conspicuously enlarged at the apex; valves thin and papery, bronze-green when fully grown, becoming dark red-brown, separating slowly from the margins; seeds oval or obovoid, dark brown, lustrous, ½′ long.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a wide flat head, and glabrous or somewhat pilose conspicuously verrucose branchlets, bright red-brown when they first appear, becoming pale or light reddish brown in their second year. Bark of the trunk of young trees and of the branches smooth, light gray tinged with pink, becoming on old trunks ¼′—½′ thick, dark brown and separating into large plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, tough, close-grained, rich dark brown tinged with red, with nearly white sapwood 1′—1½′ thick, of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth; in Florida occasionally used and valued for boat and shipbuilding.

Distribution. Florida; shores of Bay Biscayne near Miami, and the Everglade Keys, Dade County, common, and on Key Largo, Elliott’s, Plantation, and Boca Chica Keys, not common; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.

3. Acacia Adans.

Trees or shrubs, with slender branches armed with spinescent stipules or infrastipular spines. Leaves alternate on young branchlets and fascicled in earlier axils, bipinnate, with usually small leaflets, persistent. Flowers perfect or polygamous, small, in the axils of minute linear bractlets more or less dilated and often peltate at apex, in globose heads or cylindric spikes on axillary solitary or fascicled peduncles; calyx campanulate, 5 or 6-toothed; petals as many as the divisions of the calyx, more or less united; stamens numerous, usually more than 50, exserted, free or slightly and irregularly united at base, inserted under or just above the base of the ovary; filaments filiform; anthers small, attached on the back, versatile; ovary contracted into a long slender style terminating in a minute stigma. Legume nearly cylindric or flat, indehiscent, continuous or divided within. Seeds transverse, compressed; seed-coat thick, crustaceous, marked on each face of the seed by an oval depression or ring; radicle straight, included, or slightly exserted.

Acacia with more than four hundred species is widely distributed through Australia, where it is most largely represented, tropical and southern Africa, northern Africa, southwestern China, the warmer regions of southern Asia, the islands of the south Pacific, tropical and temperate South America, the West Indies, Central America and Mexico to the southwestern boundaries of the United States where ten or twelve species occur; of these five are arborescent. Acacia is astringent, and many species yield valuable tan bark. Gum arabic is produced by different Old World species; many of the species yield hard heavy durable wood, and some of the Australian Acacias are large and valuable timber-trees. Many species are cultivated for their graceful foliage and handsome fragrant flowers.

The generic name, from ἀκακία, relates to the spines with which the branches are usually armed.

Conspectus of the Arborescent Species of the United States.

Flowers in globose heads; corolla 5-lobed; ovary sessile; stipules persistent, becoming spines.

Legume cylindric, glabrous, its sutures conspicuously thickened and grooved; seeds in 2 ranks.

1. A. Farnesiana (E).

Legume flattened, pubescent, its sutures not thickened, slightly grooved; seeds in 1 rank.

2. A. tortuosa (E).

Flowers in short, often interrupted, spikes; legume flattened, pubescent, its sutures thickened; seeds in one rank.

3. A. Emoriana (E).

Flowers in elongated slender spikes; corolla of 5 petals only slightly united at base; ovary stalked; stipules caducous; branchlets armed with infrastipular spines.

Legume 1′—1¼′ wide, straight or slightly contracted between the seeds, not becoming twisted and contorted at maturity; seeds narrow-obovoid or ovoid; leaflets green, glabrous, with prominent veinlets.

4. A. Wrightii (E).

Legume ½′—¾′ wide, often conspicuously contracted between the seeds, becoming twisted and contorted at maturity; seeds nearly orbicular; leaflets blue-green, pubescent, with obscure veinlets.

5. A. Greggii (E, G, H).

1. Acacia Farnesiana Willd. Huisache. Cassie.

Leaves 2′—4′ long, with 2—8, usually 4 or 5, pairs of pinnæ, generally somewhat puberulous on the short petiole and rachis; in Texas mostly falling at the beginning of winter; pinnæ sessile or short-stalked, remote or close together, with 10—25 pairs of linear acute leaflets tipped with a minute point, unequal at base, sessile or short-petiolulate, glabrous or puberulous, bright green, ⅛′—¼′ long. Flowers bright yellow, very fragrant, /16′ long, opening during the summer and autumn from the axils of minute clavate pilose bractlets, in heads ⅔′ in diameter, on axillary thin puberulous peduncles, solitary or most often 2 or 3 together and 1′—1½′ in length, with two minute dentate connate bracts forming an involucral cup immediately under the flower-head; calyx about half as long as the petals and like them somewhat pilose on the outer surface; stamens two or three times as long as the corolla; ovary short-stipitate, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit oblong, cylindric or spindle-shaped, thick, turgid, straight or curved, slightly contracted between the seeds, short-stalked, narrowed at apex into a short thick point, 2′—3′ long, ½′—⅔′ broad, dark red-purple, lustrous, and marked by broad light-colored bands along the thickened grooved sutures, the outer coat of the walls thin and papery, inclosing a thick pithy pulp-like substance surrounding the seeds, each in a separate thin-walled compartment; seeds ovoid, thick, flattened on the inner surface by mutual pressure, ¼′ long, suspended transversely in 2 ranks on a short straight funicle, light brown, lustrous, and faintly marked by large oval rings.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a straight trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, separating 6°—8° from the ground into numerous long pendulous branches forming a wide round spreading head, and slender terete or slightly striate angled branchlets, glabrous or at first puberulous, and armed with straight rigid terete spines developed from the persistent stipules and sometimes 1½′ long. Bark of the trunk thin, reddish brown, irregularly broken by long reticulated ridges, exfoliating in large thin scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich reddish brown, with thin pale sapwood; in India used for the knees of small vessels and in agricultural implements.

Distribution. Now widely spread by cultivation through the tropical and subtropical regions of the two worlds and probably a native of America from western Texas to northern Chile; growing in Texas apparently naturally in the arid and almost uninhabited region between the Nueces and Rio Grande; naturalized and now covering great areas in the valley of the Guadalupe River near Victoria, Victoria County, Texas.

Largely cultivated in southern Europe for its fragrant flowers used in the manufacture of perfumery, as an ornament of gardens in all warm countries, and in India as a hedge plant.

2. Acacia tortuosa Willd.

Leaves generally less than 1′ long, short-petiolate, with a slender puberulous rachis and usually 3 or 4 pairs of pinnæ; early deciduous; pinnæ sessile or short-stalked, remote, with 10—15 pairs of linear somewhat falcate leaflets, acute, tipped with a minute point, subsessile, light green, glabrous, /20′—/16′ long. Flowers minute, bright yellow, very fragrant, in the axils of clavate pilose bracts, in heads ¼′—⅜′ in diameter, appearing in March with or just before the unfolding leaves, on clustered or solitary slender puberulous peduncles ½′—¾′ long, and furnished at apex with 2 minute connate bracts; calyx only about one third as long as the corolla, with short puberulous lobes; corolla puberulous at apex, less than half as long as the filaments; ovary covered with short close pubescence. Fruit elongated, linear, slightly compressed, somewhat constricted between the seeds, dark red-brown and cinereo-puberulous, 3′—5′ long and about ¼′ wide; seeds in 1 series, obovoid, compressed, dark red-brown, lustrous, about ¼′ long, faintly marked by large oval rings.

A tree, occasionally 15°—20° high, with a straight trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches forming an open irregular head, and slender somewhat zigzag slightly angled reddish brown branchlets roughened by numerous minute round lenticels, villose with short pale hairs, and armed with thin terete puberulous spines occasionally ¾′ long; in Texas usually shrubby, with numerous stems forming a symmetric round-topped bush only a few feet high. Bark dark brown or nearly black, and deeply furrowed.

Distribution. Valley of the Rio Cibolo to Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande, Maverick County, Texas; and in northern and southern Mexico, the West Indies, Venezuela, and on the Galapagos Islands; in Texas probably arborescent only on the plains of the Rio Grande near Spofford, Kinney County.

3. Acacia Emoriana Benth.

Leaves 3½′—4′ long, with a slender petiole and rachis, villose-pubescent early in the season, becoming nearly glabrous; and 4 or 5 pairs of pinnæ; falling late in the autumn; pinnæ on slender stalks ¼′ in length, with 5—7 pairs of oblong leaflets rounded and apiculate at apex, obliquely rounded at base, short-petiolulate, pointing forward, when they unfold densely villose above and on the margins, and hoary-tomentose below, becoming glabrous, gray-green rather darker above than below, ⅓′ long. Flowers subsessile, puberulous, in interrupted spikes, ¾′—1′ in length, densely hoary-tomentose when they first appear late in March, on villose peduncles ½′—1′ in length, and furnished near the apex with lanceolate caducous bracts; calyx about half the length of the ovate acute petals ciliate on the margins, about /12′ long and much shorter than the stamens; ovary stipitate, glabrous. Fruit fully grown in July, stipitate much compressed, rounded and sometimes slightly emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed and obliquely cuneate at base, with much thickened revolute undulate margins, densely pubescent early in the season, becoming puberulous, 5′ or 6′ long, 1¼′—1½′ wide and many-seeded, or nearly orbicular and 1 or 2-seeded; seeds in one series, oval, the two sides unsymmetric, obliquely pointed at base, rounded at apex, compressed, dark chestnut-brown and lustrous, ½′ long and ¼′ wide.

A tree, sometimes 25° high, usually smaller, with slender red-brown branchlets pubescent or puberulous when they first appear, becoming glabrous in their second year, and armed with small curved stipular spines; often a shrub.

Distribution. Texas; creek banks and cañons, near Montell and Uvalde, Uvalde County, and rocky banks of Devil’s River, Valverde County (E. J. Palmer).

4. Acacia Wrightii Benth. Cat’s Claw.

Leaves 1′—2′ long, slightly pubescent, especially on the petiole and rachis, with 1—3 pairs of pinnæ, slender petioles 1⅓′ in length, and eglandular or glandular with small convex glands, and linear acute caducous stipules /16′ long; pinnæ short-stalked, with 2—5 pairs of obovate-oblong leaflets, obliquely rounded and often apiculate at apex, sessile or short-petiolulate, 2 or sometimes 3-nerved, glabrous, or rarely pubescent, reticulate-veined, rigid, bright green and rather paler on the lower surface than on the upper surface, ¼′—⅚′ long. Flowers light yellow, fragrant, appearing from the end of March to the end of May, on slender pubescent pedicels from the axils of minute caducous bracts, in narrow spikes 1½′ long, often interrupted below the middle, on slender fascicled pubescent or sometimes glabrous peduncles; calyx obscurely 5-lobed, pubescent on the outer surface, half as long as the spatulate petals slightly united at base, and ciliate on the margins; stamens ¼′ long; ovary long-stalked, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit fully grown early in the summer, deciduous in the autumn, slightly falcate, compressed, stipitate, oblique at base, rounded and short-pointed at apex, 2′—4′ long, 1′—1¼′ wide, with thick straight or irregularly contracted margins and thin papery walls conspicuously marked by narrow horizontal reticulate veins; seeds narrow-obovoid, compressed, ¼′ long, suspended transversely on a long slender funicle, light brown, marked by large oval depressions.

A tree, occasionally 25°—30° high, with a short trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, spreading branches forming a low wide or irregular head, and branchlets when they first appear somewhat striately angled, glabrous, pale yellow-brown or dark red-brown, turning pale gray in their second year, and armed with occasional stout recurved infrastipular chestnut-brown spines ¼′ long, compressed toward the broad base and sharp-pointed, or rarely unarmed. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, divided by shallow furrows into broad ridges separating on the surface into thin narrow scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, bright clear brown streaked with red and yellow, with thin clear yellow sapwood of 6 or 7 layers of annual growth; valued and largely used as fuel.

Distribution. Valley of the Guadalupe River in the neighborhood of New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas, to the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon; most abundant and of its largest size south of the Rio Grande on dry gravelly mesas and foothills.

5. Acacia Greggii A. Gray. Cat’s Claw. Una de Gato.

Leaves 1′—3′ long, pubescent or puberulous, with 1—3 pairs of pinnæ, a short slender petiole furnished near the middle with a minute oblong chestnut-brown gland, and linear caducous stipules /16′ long; pinnæ short-stalked, with 4—5 pairs of obovate oblique leaflets rounded or truncate at apex and unequally contracted at base into a short petiolule, thick and rigid, 2—3-nerved, inconspicuously reticulate-veined, hoary-pubescent, /16′—¼′ long. Flowers fragrant, bright creamy yellow, in dense oblong pubescent spikes, on a peduncle ½′—⅔′ long, and fascicled usually 2 or 3 together toward the end of the branches; calyx obscurely 5-lobed, puberulous on the outer surface, half as long as the petals slightly united at base and pale-tomentose on the margins; stamens ¼′ long; ovary long-stalked, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit fully grown at midsummer and hanging unopened on the branches until winter or the following spring, compressed, straight or slightly falcate, obliquely narrowed at base into a short stalk, acute or rounded at apex, more or less contracted between the seeds, 2′—4′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, curling and often contorted when fully ripe, the valves thin and membranaceous, thick-margined, light brown, conspicuously transversely reticulate-veined; seeds nearly orbicular, compressed, dark brown and lustrous, ¼′ in diameter, marked by small oval depressions.

A tree, rarely 30° high, with a trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, numerous spreading branches, and striately angled puberulous or in Texas glabrous pale brown branchlets faintly tinged with red and armed with stout recurved infrastipular spines flat at base, and ¼′ long and broad. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, furrowed, the surface separating into thin narrow scales. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, close-grained, durable, rich brown or red, with thin light yellow sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Dry gravelly mesas, the sides of low cañons and the banks of mountain streams; valley of the Rio Grande, western Texas, through southern New Mexico and Arizona to southern California, ranging northward in Arizona to the rim of the Grand Cañon of the Colorado River, and to Clark County, Nevada; in northern Mexico, and in Lower California to the eastern base of the San Pedro Mártir Mountains.

4. Leucæna Benth.

Trees or shrubs, with slender unarmed branches. Leaves persistent, abruptly bipinnate, with numerous pinnæ and small leaflets in many pairs, petiolate, the petioles often furnished with a conspicuous gland below the lower pair of pinnæ; stipules minute and caducous, or becoming spinescent and persistent. Flowers minute, white, mostly perfect, sessile or short-pedicellate, in the axils of small peltate bracts villose at apex, in globose many-flowered pedunculate heads, the peduncles in axillary fascicles or in leafless terminal racemes; calyx tubular-campanulate, minutely 5-toothed; petals 5, free, acute or rounded at apex, narrowed at base; stamens 10, free, inserted under the ovary, exserted; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, versatile; ovary stipitate, contracted into a long slender style, with a minute terminal slightly dilated stigma. Legume many-seeded, stipitate, linear, compressed, dehiscent, the valves thickened on the margins, rigid, thin, continuous within, their outer coat thin and papery, dark-colored, the inner rather thicker, woody, pale brown. Seeds obovoid, compressed, transverse, the hilum near the base, suspended on a long slender funicle; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, brown and lustrous; embryo inclosed on its two sides by a thin layer of horny albumen; radicle slightly exserted.

Leucæna with nine or ten species is confined to the warmer parts of America from western Texas to Venezuela and Peru, and to the islands of the Pacific Ocean from New Caledonia to Tahiti, where one species has been recognized. Of the indigenous species found in the territory of the United States, three are arborescent. Leucæna glauca L., a small tree or shrub, cultivated in all warm countries, and a native probably of tropical America, is now naturalized on Key West, Florida.

The generic name, from λευχαίνω, refers to the color of the flowers.

Conspectus of the North American Species.

Peduncles bibracteolate at apex; stipules becoming spinescent.

Leaves 10—14-pinnate; pinnæ with 15—30 pairs of leaflets; blade of the bract of the flower produced into a short point.

1. L. Greggii (E).

Leaves 2—4-pinnate; pinnæ with 4—8 pairs of leaflets; blade of the bract of the flower produced into a long slender villose tip.

2. L. retusa (E).

Peduncles without bracts; stipules minute, caducous; leaves 30—36-pinnate; pinnæ with 30—60 pairs of leaflets.

3. L. pulverulenta (E).

1. Leucæna Greggii S. Wats.

Leaves 6′—7′ long and broad, with a slender rachis furnished on the upper side with a single elongated bottle-shaped gland between the stalks of each pair of pinnæ; pinnæ 10—14, remote, short-stalked, with 15—30 pairs of leaflets; stipules gradually narrowed into a long slender point, becoming rigid and spinescent, ⅓′ to nearly ½′ long and persistent for two or three years; leaflets lanceolate, acute or acuminate, often somewhat falcate, nearly sessile or short-petiolulate, full and rounded toward the base on the lower margin, nearly straight on the upper margin, gray-green, ultimately nearly glabrous, ¼′—⅓′ long, about ⅛′ wide, with a narrow midvein and obscure lateral nerves. Flowers on slender pedicels, in heads ¾′—1′ in diameter, on stout peduncles 2′—3′ long furnished at apex with 2 irregularly 3-lobed bracts, and solitary or in pairs; calyx coated with hairs only near the apex, much shorter than the spatulate glabrous more or less boat-shaped petals; ovary villose with a few short scattered hairs. Fruit 6′-8′ long, ⅓′—½′ wide, narrowed below into a short stout stipe, acuminate and crowned at apex with the thickened style, ⅓′—¾′ long, cinereo-pubescent until nearly fully grown, becoming nearly glabrous at maturity, much compressed, with narrow wing-like margins; seeds conspicuously notched by the hilum, ½′ long and ⅓′ wide.

A tree, 15°-20° high, with a stem 4′—5′ in diameter, and stout zigzag red-brown branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels, coated at first with short spreading lustrous yellow deciduous hairs found also on the young petioles and lower surface of the unfolding leaflets, the peduncles of the flower-heads and their bracts. Bark about ⅜′ thick, dark brown, divided into low ridges and broken on the surface into small closely appressed persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich brown streaked with red, with thin clear sapwood.

Distribution. Mountain ravines and the steep banks of streams; western Texas from the valley of the upper San Saba River to that of Devil’s River; and southward into Mexico.

2. Leucæna retusa Benth.

Leaves 3′ or 4′ long and 4′ or 5′ wide, with a slender petiole and rachis and 2-4 pairs of pinnæ 6′-10′ long, remote, long-stalked, with 4-8 pairs of short-stalked leaflets furnished between their stems with a single globose white gland found also occasionally on the upper side of the rachis between the stems of the pinnæ; stipules ovate, gradually narrowed into a long slender tip, ½′ in length, often persistent through the season; leaflets obliquely obovate or elliptic, rounded and apiculate at apex, obliquely rounded or cuneate at the unsymmetric base, entire, short-petiolulate, villose-pubescent like the rachis and petiole when they first appear, soon, glabrous, and at maturity thin, blue-green, ¾′—1′ long and ⅓′—½′ wide, with a slender midrib, and prominent veins extending obliquely toward the apex of the leaflet, those of the lowest pair more prominent and starting from near its base. Flowers short-stalked in the axil of a peltate bract, its blade produced into a long slender villose tip, appearing continuously from April until October in dense globose heads ¾′ in diameter, on villose bibracteolate axillary, single or fascicled peduncles 1½′—3′ in length; calyx thin, tubular, 5-toothed at apex; petals narrow-oblong, hardly longer than the calyx; stamens 10, shorter than the bract of the flower; anthers glabrous. Fruit solitary or clustered, on a puberulous peduncle 3′-5′ in length, 6′-10′ long, ⅓′—½′ wide, gradually narrowed below into a stout stipe, the acuminate apex terminating in the thickened persistent style, glabrous and dark reddish brown; seeds ⅓′ long and ¼′ wide.

A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk 6′-8′ in diameter, and slender branchlets pubescent when they first appear, becoming puberulous and orange-brown or reddish brown at the end of their first season; more often a shrub.

Distribution. Texas; steep rocky hillsides, and on the summits of limestone bluffs; (Uvalde, Valverde, Kemble, Real and Jeff Davis Counties).

3. Leucæna pulverulenta Benth. Mimosa.

Leaves 4′-7′ long and 3′-4′ wide, with a slender petiole usually marked by a large dark oblong gland between the somewhat enlarged base and the lowest pair of the 30-36 nearly sessile crowded pinnæ, each with 30-60 pairs of leaflets, and minute caducous stipules, when they unfold covered like the peduncles and flower-buds with dense hoary tomentum, and at maturity puberulous on the petiole and rachis; leaflets linear, acute, rather oblique at base by the greater development of the upper side, sessile or very short-petiolulate, pale bright green, ⅙′—¼′ long. Flowers sessile, fragrant, in heads ½′ in diameter, appearing in succession as the branches grow from early spring to midsummer, on slender peduncles 1′—1½′ long and fascicled in the axils of upper leaves; calyx one fourth as long as the acute petals and like them pilose on the outer surface; stamens twice as long as the petals; ovary coated with long pale hairs. Fruit conspicuously thick-margined, 4′-14′ long, long-stalked, tipped with a short straight or recurved point, usually in pairs on a peduncle thickened at apex; seeds /16′ long.

A tree, 50°-60° high, with a straight trunk 18′-20′ in diameter, separating 20°-30° from the ground into slender spreading branches forming a loose round head, and branchlets at first more or less striately grooved and thickly coated with pulverulent caducous tomentum, becoming at the end of a few weeks terete, pale cinnamon-brown and puberulous. Bark about ¼′ thick, bright cinnamon-brown, and roughened by thick persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, rich dark brown, with thin clear yellow sapwood of 2 or 3 layers of annual growth; considered valuable, and sometimes manufactured into lumber.

Distribution. Rich moist soil of river banks and the borders of lagoons and small streams; valley of the lower Rio Grande; in Texas only for a few miles near its mouth; more abundant from Matamoras to Monterey in Nuevo Leon; and southward to the neighborhood of the City of Mexico.

Occasionally planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the towns of the lower Rio Grande valley and in New Orleans, Louisiana.

5. Prosopis L. Mesquite.

Trees or shrubs, with branches without a terminal bud and armed with geminate supra-axillary persistent spines, and small obtuse axillary buds covered with acute apiculate dark brown scales. Leaves alternate on branches of the year and fascicled in earlier axils, deciduous, usually 2 rarely 3-4-pinnate, with many-foliolate pinnæ; petioles glandular at apex with a minute gland, and tipped with the small spinescent rachis; stipules linear, membranaceous or spinescent, deciduous. Flowers greenish white, nearly sessile, in axillary pedunculate spikes; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, or slightly 5-lobed, deciduous; petals 5, connate below the middle or ultimately free, glabrous or tomentose on the inner surface toward the apex, sometimes puberulous on the outer surface; stamens 10, free, inserted with the petals on the margin of a minute disk adnate to the calyx-tube, those opposite the lobes of the calyx rather longer than the others; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, versatile, their connective tipped with a minute deciduous gland, the cells opening by marginal sutures; ovary stipitate, villose; style filiform, with a minute terminal stigma. Legume linear, compressed, or subterete, straight or falcate, or contorted or twisted into a more or less regular spiral, indehiscent; the outer coat thin, woody, pale yellow, inclosing a thick spongy inner coat of sweet pulp containing the seeds placed obliquely and separately inclosed, their envelopes forming nut-like joints. Seeds oblong, compressed, the hilum near the base; seed-coat crustaceous, light brown, lustrous; embryo surrounded by a layer of horny albumen; radicle short, slightly exserted.

Prosopis is distributed in the New World from southern Kansas to Patagonia, and in the Old World is confined to tropical Africa, and to southwestern and tropical Asia. Sixteen or seventeen species have been distinguished. Of the three species found in the territory of the United States two are small trees.

Prosopis produces hard durable wood, particularly valuable as fuel, and the pods are used as fodder.

The generic name is from προσωπίς, employed by Dioscorides as a name of the Burdock.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Species.

Legume compressed or ultimately convex; pinnæ 12—22-foliolate.

1. P. juliflora (C, E, G, H).

Legume thick, spirally twisted; pinnæ 10—16-foliolate.

2. P. pubescens (E, F, G, H).

1. Prosopis juliflora DC. Mesquite. Honey Locust.

Leaves with 2 or rarely 4 pinnæ, and slender terete petioles abruptly enlarged and glandular at base; stipules linear, acute, membranaceous, deciduous. Flowers appearing in successive crops from May to the middle of July, fragrant, about /12′ long, on short pedicels, in slender cylindric spikes 1½′—4′ long, on stout peduncles ½′—¾′ in length; calyx glabrous or puberulous, about one fourth as long as the narrowly oblong acute petals, glabrous or puberulous on the outer surface and covered on the inner surface toward the apex with hoary tomentum; stamens twice as long as the corolla, the dark-colored connective of the anther-cells furnished at apex with a stalked gland; ovary short-stalked, clothed with silky hairs. Fruit in drooping clusters, linear, at first flat, becoming subterete at maturity, constricted between the 10-20 seeds, straight or falcate, contracted at the ends, 4′—9′ long, ¼′—½′ wide; seeds about ¼′ long.

A low tree, with a large thick taproot descending frequently to the depth of 40°-50°, and furnished with radiating horizontal roots spreading in all directions and forming a dense mat, a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, divided a short distance above the ground into many irregularly arranged crooked branches forming a loose straggling head, and slender branchlets at first pale yellow-green, turning darker in their second year, furnished in the axils of the leaves of their first season with short spur-like excrescences covered with chaffy scales, and armed with stout straight terete supra-axillary persistent spines ½′—2′ long, or rarely unarmed; more often a shrub, with numerous stems only a few feet high. Bark of the trunk thick, dark reddish brown, divided by shallow fissures, the surface separating into short thick scales. Wood heavy, close-grained, rich dark brown or sometimes red, with thin clear yellow sapwood; almost indestructible in contact with the soil, and largely used for fence-posts, railway-ties, the underpinnings of buildings, and occasionally in the manufacture of furniture, the fellies of wheels, and the pavements of city streets; the best fuel of the region, and largely made into charcoal. The ripe pods supply Mexicans and Indians with a nutritious food, and are devoured by most herbivorous animals. A gum, resembling gum-arabic, exudes from the stems.

Distribution. Western Texas and eastern New Mexico, and on the island of Jamaica; eastward and westward diverging into two extreme forms. These are

Prosopis juliflora var. glandulosa Cock.

Leaves 8′—10′ long, 2-pinnate, with long slender petioles, the pinnæ 12—20-foliolate; leaflets distant, linear, mostly acute, glabrous, dark green, often 2′ long and ⅛′—¼′ wide. Flowers with a usually glabrous calyx. Fruit occasionally conspicuously constricted between the seeds (f. constricta Sarg.).

A round-topped tree, often 20° high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, and long gracefully drooping branches forming a symmetrical round-topped head.

Distribution. Eastern Texas to western Louisiana (near Shreveport, Caddo Parish), western Oklahoma and southern Kansas, and southward into northern Mexico. The common Mesquite of eastern Texas; reappearing with rather shorter and more crowded leaflets in Arizona, southern California, and Lower California.

Prosopis juliflora var. velutina Sarg.

Leaves 5′—6′ long, often fascicled, 2—4-pinnate, cinereo-pubescent, with short petioles, the pinnæ 12-22-foliolate; leaflets oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, crowded, pale green, ¼′—½′ long. Flowers in densely-flowered spikes 2′—3′ long; calyx villose.

A tree, often 50° high, with a trunk 2° in diameter, covered with rough dark brown bark, and heavy irregularly arranged usually crooked branches.

Distribution. Dry valleys of southern Arizona and of Sonora.

2. Prosopis pubescens Benth. Screw Bean. Screw Pod Mesquite.

Leaves canescently pubescent, 2′—3′ long, with a slender petiole ⅓′—⅔′ in length, and pinnæ 1½′—2′ long and 10—16-foliolate; stipules spinescent, deciduous; leaflets oblong or somewhat falcate, acute, sessile or short-petiolulate, often apiculate, conspicuously reticulate-veined, ⅓′—⅔′ long, ⅛′ wide. Flowers beginning to open in early spring, and produced in successive crops from the axils of minute scarious bracts, in dense or interrupted cylindric spikes 2′—3′ long; calyx obscurely 5-lobed, pubescent on the outer surface, one third to one fourth as long as the narrow acute petals coated on the inner surface near the apex with thick white tomentum, and slightly puberulous on the outer surface; ovary and young fruit hoary-tomentose. Fruit ripening throughout the summer and falling in the autumn, in dense racemes, sessile, twisted with from 12—20 turns into a narrow straight spiral 1′—2′ long; seeds /16′ long.

A tree, 25°-30° high, with a slender trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, and terete branches canescently pubescent or glabrate when they first appear, becoming glabrous and light red-brown in their third year, and armed with stout spines ⅓′—½′ long. Bark of the trunk thick, light brown tinged with red, separating in long thin persistent ribbon-like scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 6 or 7 layers of annual growth; used as fuel and occasionally for fencing. The sweet, nutritious legumes are valued as fodder.

Distribution. Sandy or gravelly bottom-lands; valley of the Rio Grande in western Texas, and through New Mexico and Arizona to southern Utah and Nevada, and to San Diego County, California, and northern Mexico; attaining its largest size in the United States in the valleys of the lower Colorado and Gila Rivers, Arizona.

6. Cercis L.

Trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, slender unarmed branchlets prolonged by an upper axillary bud, marked by numerous minute pale lenticels, and in their first winter by small elevated horizontal leaf-scars showing the ends of two large fibro-vascular bundles, and small scaly obtuse axillary buds covered by imbricated ovate chestnut-brown scales. Leaves simple, entire, 5—7-nerved with prominent nerves, long-petiolate, deciduous; petioles slender, terete, abruptly enlarged at apex; stipules ovate, acute, small, membranaceous, caducous. Flowers appearing in early spring before or with the leaves on thin jointed pedicels, in simple fascicles or racemose clusters produced on branches of the previous or earlier years, or on the trunk, with small scale-like bracts often imbricated at the base of the inflorescence, and minute bractlets; calyx disciferous, short-turbinate, purplish, persistent, the tube oblique at base, campanulate, enlarged on the lower side, 5-toothed, the short broad teeth imbricated in the bud; corolla subpapilionaceous; petals nearly equal, rose color, oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, unguiculate, slightly auricled on one side of the base of the blade, the upper petal slightly smaller and inclosed in the bud by the wing-petals encircled by the broader slightly imbricated keel-petals; stamens 10, inserted in 2 rows on the margin of the thin disk, free, declinate, those of the inner row opposite the petals and rather shorter than the others; filaments enlarged and pilose below the middle, persistent until the fruit is grown; anthers uniform, oblong, attached on the back near the base; ovary short-stalked, inserted obliquely in the bottom of the calyx-tube; style filiform, fleshy, incurved, with a stout obtuse terminal stigma; ovules 2-ranked, attached to the inner angle of the ovary. Legume stalked, oblong or broad-linear, straight on the upper edge, curved on the lower edge, acute at the ends, compressed, tipped with the thickened remnants of the style, many-seeded, 2-valved, the valves coriaceo-membranaceous, many-veined, tardily dehiscent by the dorsal and often by the wing-margined ventral suture, dark red-purple and lustrous at maturity. Seeds suspended transversely on a slender funicle, ovoid or oblong, compressed, the small depressed hilum near the apex; seed-coat crustaceous, bright reddish brown; embryo surrounded by a thin layer of horny albumen, compressed; cotyledons oval, flat, the radicle short, straight or obliquely incurved, slightly exserted.

Cercis is confined to eastern and western North America, southern Europe, and to southwestern, central and eastern Asia. Of the eight species now distinguished, three occur in North America. Two of these are arborescent.

The generic name is from κερκίς, the Greek name of the European species, from a fancied resemblance of the fruit to the weaver’s implement of that name.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Species.

Flowers in sessile clusters; leaves ovate, acute, cordate or truncate at base.

1. C. canadensis (A, C).

Flowers fascicled or slightly racemose; leaves reniform.

2. C. reniformis (C).

1. Cercis canadensis L. Redbud. Judas-tree.

Leaves broad-ovate, acute or acuminate and often abruptly contracted at apex into a short broad point, truncate or more or less cordate at base, entire, glabrous with the exception of axillary tufts of white hairs, or sometimes more or less pubescent below, 3′—5′ long and broad; turning in the autumn before falling bright clear yellow; petioles 2′—5′ in length. Flowers ½′ long, on pedicels ⅓′—½′ in length and fascicled 4-8 together; rarely white (var. alba Rehdr.). Fruit fully grown in the south by the end of May and at the north at midsummer, and then pink or rose color, 2½′—3½′ long, falling late in the autumn or in early winter; seeds about ¼′ long.

A tree, sometimes 40°-50° high, with a straight trunk usually separating 10°-12° from the ground into stout branches covered with smooth light brown or gray bark, and forming an upright or often a wide flat head, and slender glabrous somewhat angled branchlets, brown and lustrous during their first season, becoming dull and darker the following year and ultimately dark or grayish brown. Bark of the trunk about ½′ thick and divided by deep longitudinal fissures into long narrow plates, the bright red-brown surface separating into thin scales. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, close-grained, rich dark brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 8-10 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Borders of streams and rich bottom-lands, forming, especially west of the Alleghany Mountains, an abundant undergrowth to the forest; valley of the Delaware River, New Jersey, central and southern Pennsylvania southward to northern Florida, northern Alabama and southern Mississippi (Crystal Springs, Copiah County), and westward to southwestern Ontario (Point Pelee, Essex County), and through southern Michigan to southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, western Oklahoma (Major and Dewey Counties), Louisiana, and the valley of the Brazos River, Texas; and on the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon; common and of its largest size in southwestern Arkansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas, and in early spring a conspicuous feature of the landscape.

Often cultivated as an ornamental tree in the northeastern states, and occasionally in western Europe.

2. Cercis reniformis Engl. Redbud.

Cercis texensis Sarg.

Leaves reniform, when they unfold light green and slightly pilose, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler, glabrous or pubescent on the lower surface, and 2′—3′ in diameter; petioles 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers about ½′ long, on slender pedicels ½′—¾′ in length and fascicled in sessile clusters, or occasionally racemose. Fruit 2′—4′ long, ½′—1′ wide; seeds ¼′ long.

A slender tree, occasionally 20° or rarely 40° high, with a trunk 6′-12′ in diameter, and glabrous branchlets marked by numerous minute white lenticels, light reddish brown during their first and second years, becoming dark brown in their third season; more often a shrub, sending up numerous stems and forming dense thickets only a few feet high. Bark of the trunk and branches thin, smooth, light gray. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained brown streaked with yellow, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Limestone hills and ridges; neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas to the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon; common in the valley of the upper Colorado River, Texas; of its largest size on the mountains of northeastern Mexico.

7. Gymnocladus Lam.

Trees, with stout unarmed blunt branchlets with a thick pith, prolonged by axillary buds, rough deeply fissured bark, thick fleshy roots, and minute buds depressed in pubescent cavities of the bark, 2 in the axil of each leaf, superposed, remote, the lower and smaller sterile and nearly surrounded by the enlarged base of the petiole, their scales 2, ovate, rounded at apex, coated with thick dark brown tomentum, infolded one over the other, accrescent with the young shoots. Leaves deciduous, unequally bipinnate; pinnæ many-foliolulate, with 1 or 2 pairs of the lowest pinnæ reduced to single leaflets; pinnæ and leaflets usually alternate; leaflets thin, ovate, entire, petiolulate; stipules foliaceous, early deciduous. Flowers regular, diœcious, greenish white, long-pedicellate, the slender pedicels from the axils of long lanceolate scarious caducous bracts, bibracteolate near the middle; staminate flowers in a short terminal racemose corymb; pistillate flowers in elongated terminal racemes, on pedicels much longer than those of the staminate flowers; calyx tubular, elongated, 10-ribbed, lined with a thin glandular disk, 5-lobed, the lobes, lanceolate, acute, nearly equal, erect; petals 4 or 5, oblong, rounded or acute at apex, pubescent, as long as the calyx-lobes or rather longer and twice as broad, inserted on the margin of the disk, spreading or reflexed; stamens 10, free, inserted with the petals, erect, included; filaments filiform, pilose, those opposite the petals shorter than the others; anthers oblong, uniform, small and sterile in the pistillate flower; ovary sessile or slightly stipitate, acute; styles short, erect, obliquely dilated into 2 broad lobes stigmatic on their inner surface, rudimentary or 0 in the sterile flower; ovules numerous, suspended from the angle opposite the posterior petals. Legume oblong, subfalcate, turgid or slightly compressed, several-seeded, 2-valved, tardily dehiscent, the thin tough woody valves thickened on the margins into narrow wings, pulpy between the seeds. Seeds ovoid or slightly obovoid, suspended by a long slender funicle; seed-coat thick, bony, brown and opaque, of 3 layers; embryo surrounded by a thin layer of horny albumen; cotyledons ovate, orange-colored, thick and fleshy, the radicle short, erect.

Gymnocladus, with two species, is confined to eastern North America and to central China.

Gymnocladus is slightly astringent and purgative, and the detersive pulp surrounding the seeds of the Asiatic species is used in China as a substitute for soap.

The generic name, from γυμνός and κλάδος, relates to the stout branchlets destitute of spray.

1. Gymnocladus dioicus K. Koch. Kentucky Coffee-tree. Mahogany.

Leaves 1°—3° long, 18′—24′ wide, obovate, 5—9 pinnate, the pinnæ 6—14-foliolate, covered when they unfold with hoary tomentum except on the upper surface of the ovate acute leaflets, often mucronate, especially while young, cuneate or irregularly rounded at base, pink at first, soon becoming bronze-green and lustrous, glabrous on the upper surface with the exception of a few scattered hairs along the midrib, and at maturity thin, obscurely veined, dark green above, pale yellow-green and glabrous below, with the exception of a few short hairs scattered along the narrow midrib, 2′—2½′ long and 1′ wide, or those replacing the lowest or occasionally the 2 lower pairs of pinnæ sometimes twice as large; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles abruptly and conspicuously enlarged at base, at first hoary-tomentose, becoming glabrous at maturity; stipules lanceolate or slightly obovate, glandular-serrate toward the apex, ⅓′ long. Flowers: inflorescence of the staminate tree 3′—4′ long, the lower branches usually 3 or 4-flowered; inflorescence of the pistillate tree 10′—12′ long, the flowers on stout pedicels 1′—2½′ long or twice to five times as long as those of the staminate flowers; flowers hoary-tomentose in the bud; calyx ⅔′ long, covered on the outer surface when the flowers open with pale hairs and on the inner surface with hoary tomentum; petals keeled, pilose on the back, slightly grooved, tomentose on the inner surface; anthers bright orange color; ovary hairy. Fruit 6′—10′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, dark red-brown, covered with a glaucous bloom, on stout stalks 1′—2′ in length, remaining unopened on the branches through the winter; seeds separated by a thick layer of dark-colored sweet pulp, ¾′ long.

A tree, 75°—110° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, usually dividing 10°—15° from the ground into 3 or 4 principal stems spreading slightly and forming a narrow round-topped head, or occasionally sending up a tall straight shaft destitute of branches for 70°—80°, and branchlets coated when they first appear with short dense pubescence faintly tinged with red, bearing at their base the conspicuous orange-green obovate pubescent bud-scales, ¼′—⅓′ thick at the end of their first season, very blunt, dark brown, often slightly pilose, marked by orange-colored lenticels, and roughened by the large pale broadly heart-shaped leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 or 4 conspicuous fibro-vascular bundles. Bark of the trunk ¾′—1′ thick, deeply fissured, dark gray tinged with red, and roughened by small persistent scales. Wood heavy although not hard, strong, coarse-grained, very durable in contact with the soil, rich light brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth; occasionally used in cabinet-making and for fence-posts, rails, and in construction. The seeds were formerly used as a substitute for coffee; a decoction of the fresh green pulp of the unripe fruit is used in homœopathic practice.

Distribution. Bottom-lands in rich soil; central and western New York and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, through southern Ontario and southern Michigan to southeastern Minnesota, northeastern and southern Iowa, southeastern South Dakota, eastern and northeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, southwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma (with isolated stations in Woods and Custer Counties and in the western parts of Cimarron County); in Eastern Kentucky, and western and middle Tennessee; nowhere common.

Occasionally cultivated in the gardens and parks of the eastern United States, and of northern and central Europe.

8. Gleditsia L.

Trees, with furrowed bark, slender terete slightly zigzag branchlets thickened at the apex and prolonged by axillary buds, thick fibrous roots, the trunk and branches often armed with stout simple or branched spines or abortive branchlets developed from supra-axillary or adventitious buds imbedded in the bark. Winter-buds minute, 3 or 4 together, superposed, the 2 or 3 lower without scales and covered by the scar left by the falling of the petiole, the upper larger, nearly surrounded by the base of the petiole and covered by small scurfy scales. Leaves long-petiolate, often fascicled in earlier axils, abruptly pinnate or bipinnate, the pinnæ increasing in length from the base to the apex of the leaf, the lowest sometimes reduced to single leaflets; deciduous; leaflets thin, their margins irregularly crenate, without stipels; stipules minute, caducous. Flowers regular, polygamous, minute, green or white on short pedicels, in axillary or lateral simple or fascicled racemes, with minute scale-like caducous bracts; calyx campanulate, lined with the disk, 3—5-lobed, the narrow lobes nearly equal; petals as many as the lobes of the calyx, nearly equal; stamens 6—10, inserted with the petals on the margin of the disk, exserted; filaments free, filiform, erect; anthers uniform, much smaller and abortive in the pistillate flower; ovary subsessile, rarely bicarpellary, rudimentary or 0 in the staminate flower; styles short; stigma terminal, more or less dilated, often oblique; ovules 2 or many, suspended from the angle opposite the posterior petal. Legume compressed, many-seeded, elongated, straight and indehiscent, or 1—3-seeded, ovoid and tardily dehiscent. Seeds transverse, ovoid to suborbicular, flattened, attached by a long slender funicle; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, light brown; embryo surrounded by a layer of horny orange-colored albumen; cotyledons subfoliaceous, compressed; radicle short, erect, slightly exserted.

Gleditsia is confined to eastern North America, where three species occur, southwestern Asia, China, Formosa, Japan, and west tropical Africa. It produces strong, durable, coarse-grained wood. In Japan the pods are used as a substitute for soap.

The generic name is in honor of Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch (1714—1786), professor of botany at Berlin.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Species.

Legume linear-oblong, elongated, many-seeded, indehiscent.

Legume 12′—18′ long, with pulp between the seeds; ovary hoary-tomentose.

1. G. triacanthos (A, C).

Legume 4′—5′ long, without pulp between the seeds.

2. G. texana (C).

Legume oval, oblique, 1—3-seeded, without pulp, tardily dehiscent; ovary glabrous.

3. G. aquatica (A, C).

1. Gleditsia triacanthos L. Honey Locust.

Leaves 7′—8′ long, 18—28-foliolulate or sometimes bipinnate, with 4—7 pairs of pinnæ, those of the upper pair 4′—5′ long, when they unfold hoary-tomentose, and at maturity pubescent on the petiole and rachis, the short stout petiolules, and the under surface of the midrib of the oblong-lanceolate leaflets, unequal at base, acute or slightly rounded at apex, remotely crenulate-serrate, dark green and lustrous above, dull yellow-green below, 1′—1½′ long and ½′ wide; turning in the autumn pale clear yellow. Flowers appearing in June when the leaves are nearly fully grown from the axils of leaves of previous years; the staminate in short many-flowered pubescent racemes 2′—2½′ long and often clustered; the pistillate in slender graceful few-flowered usually solitary racemes 2½′—3½′ long; calyx campanulate, narrowed at base, the acute lobes thickened, revolute and ciliate on the margins, villose with pale hairs, rather shorter than and half as wide as the erect acute petals; filaments pilose toward the base; anthers green; pistil rarely of 2 carpels, hoary-tomentose. Fruit 12′—18′ long, dark brown, pilose and slightly falcate, with straight thickened margins, 2 or 3 together in short racemes on stalks 1′—1½′ long, their walls thin and tough, contracting in drying by a number of corkscrew twists, and falling late in the autumn or early in winter; seeds oval, ⅓′ long, separated by thick succulent pulp.

A tree, 75°—140° high, with a trunk 2°—3° or occasionally 5°—6° in diameter, slender spreading somewhat pendulous branches forming a broad open rather flat-topped head, and branchlets marked by minute lenticels, at first light reddish brown and slightly puberulous, soon becoming lustrous and red tinged with green, and in their second year greenish brown and armed with stout rigid long-pointed simple or 3-forked spines at first red, and bright chestnut-brown when fully grown, or rarely unarmed (var. inermis Pursh.). Bark of the trunk ½′—¾′ thick, divided by deep fissures into long narrow longitudinal ridges and roughened on the surface by small persistent scales. Wood hard, strong, coarse-grained, very durable in contact with the ground, red or bright red-brown, with thin pale sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth; largely used for fence-posts and rails, for the hubs of wheels, and in construction.

Distribution. Borders of streams and intervale lands, in moist fertile soil, usually growing singly or occasionally covering almost exclusively considerable areas; less commonly on dry sterile gravelly hills; western slope of the Alleghany Mountains of Pennsylvania, westward through southern Ontario and southern Michigan to southeastern Minnesota, southern Iowa, southeastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and Oklahoma to the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River (near Alva, Woods County) and to creek valleys near Cache, Comanche County (G. W. Stevens), and southward to northern Alabama, Mississippi and western Florida and to the valley of the Brazos River, eastern Texas; and in the cañon of Paloduro Creek near Canyon, Randall County, northwestern Texas (E. J. Palmer); in Pennsylvania and West Virginia occasionally on the eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains; attaining its largest size in the valleys of small streams in southern Indiana and Illinois; now often naturalized in the region east of the Alleghany Mountains. The var. inermis, the prevailing form in Taney County, southern Missouri.

Often cultivated as an ornamental and shade tree in all countries of temperate climates.

2. Gleditsia texana Sarg. Locust.

Leaves 6′—7′ long, 12—22-foliolulate, with a slender rachis at first puberulous, ultimately glabrous, or often bipinnate, usually with 6 or 7 pairs of pinnæ, the lower pairs frequently reduced to single large leaflets; leaflets oblong-ovate, often somewhat falcate, rounded or acute or apiculate at apex, obliquely rounded at base, finely crenately serrate, thick and firm in texture, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, ½′—1′ long, with a short petiolule coated while young, like the base of the slender orange-colored midrib, with soft pale hairs. Flowers appearing toward the end of April, the staminate dark orange-yellow, in slender glabrous often clustered racemes lengthening after the flowers begin to open and finally 3′—4′ in length; calyx campanulate, with acute lobes thickened on the margins, villose-pubescent and rather shorter and narrower than the puberulous petals; stamens with slender filaments villose near the base and green anthers; pistillate flowers unknown. Fruit 4′—5′ long, 1′ wide, straight, much compressed, rounded and short-pointed at apex, full and rounded at the broad base, thin-walled, dark chestnut-brown, puberulous, slightly thickened on the margins, many-seeded, without pulp; seeds oval, compressed, dark chestnut-brown, very lustrous, ½′ long.

A tree, 100°—120° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 2½° in diameter, ascending and spreading branches forming a narrow head, and comparatively slender more or less zigzag branchlets roughened by numerous small round lenticels, light orange-brown when they first appear, gray or orange-brown during their first year, ashy gray the following season, and unarmed. Bark thin and smooth.

Distribution. Only in a single grove on the bottom-lands of the Brazos River, near the town of Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas.

3. Gleditsia aquatica Marsh. Water Locust.

Leaves 5′—8′ long, 12—20-foliolate, or bipinnate, with 3 or 4 pairs of pinnæ; leaflets ovate-oblong, usually rounded or rarely emarginate at apex, unequally cuneate at base, slightly and remotely crenate or often entire below the middle, glabrous with the exception of a few hairs on the short stout petiolule, dull yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, dark green on the lower surface, about 1′ long and ⅓′—½′ wide. Flowers appearing in May and June after the leaves are fully grown on short stout purple puberulous pedicels, in slender racemes 3′—4′ long; calyx-tube covered with orange-brown pubescence, the lobes narrow, acute, slightly pilose on the two surfaces, as long as but narrower than the green erect petals rounded at apex; filaments hairy toward the base; anthers large, green; ovary long-stipitate, glabrous. Fruit fully grown in August, pendent in graceful racemes, obliquely ovoid, long-stalked, crowned with a short stout tip, thin, 1′—2′ long, 1′ broad, without pulp, its valves thin, tough, papery, bright chestnut-brown, lustrous and somewhat thickened on the margins; seeds 1 or rarely 2 or 3, flat, nearly orbicular, orange-brown, ½′ in diameter.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a short trunk 2°—2½° in diameter, usually dividing a few feet from the ground into stout spreading often contorted branches forming a wide irregular flat-topped head, and glabrous orange-brown branchlets becoming in their second year gray or reddish brown, marked by occasional large pale lenticels, and armed with usually flattened simple or short-branched straight or falcate sharp rigid spines 3′—5′ long, about ½′ broad at the base, and dark red-brown and lustrous. Bark ⅛′—¼′ thick, smooth, dull gray or reddish brown, and divided by shallow fissures into small plate-like scales. Wood heavy, very hard and strong, coarse-grained, rich bright brown tinged with red, with thick light clear yellow sapwood of about 40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Eastern South Carolina to Florida, through the coast region of the Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, and northward through western Louisiana and southern Arkansas to northwestern Mississippi, middle Kentucky and Tennessee, the bottoms of the Mississippi at La Pointe, Saint Charles County, Missouri, western and southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana; rare east of the Mississippi River and only in deep river swamps; very abundant and of its largest size westward on rich bottom-lands; in Louisiana and Arkansas often occupying extensive tracts submerged during a considerable part of the year.

9. Parkinsonia L.

Trees or shrubs, with smooth thin bark and terete branches often armed with simple or 3-forked spines. Leaves abruptly bipinnate, alternate or fascicled from earlier axils, short-petiolate, the rachis short and spinescent, with 2—4 secondary elongated rachises bearing numerous minute opposite entire leaflets without stipels; stipules short, persistent and spinescent, or caducous. Flowers perfect on thin elongated jointed pedicels from the axils of minute caducous bracts, in slender axillary solitary or fascicled racemes; calyx short-campanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes slightly imbricated or subvalvate in the bud, narrow, membranaceous, nearly equal, becoming reflexed, deciduous; petals bright yellow, unguiculate, much longer than the lobes of the calyx, spreading, the upper petal rather broader than the others and glandular at the base of the claw; stamens 10, inserted in 2 rows on the margin of the thin disk, free, slightly declinate, those of the outer row opposite the sepals and rather longer than the others; filaments villose below the middle, the upper filament enlarged at base and gibbous on the upper side; anthers uniform, versatile; ovary short-stipitate, pilose, contracted into a slender filiform incurved style infolded in the bud and tipped with a minute stigma; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary. Legume linear, torulose, acuminate at the ends, 2-valved, the valves thin, convex by the growth of the seeds, contracted between and beyond them, longitudinally striate. Seeds oblong, suspended longitudinally on a slender funicle; hilum minute, near the apex; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, light brown; embryo inclosed on the sides only by thick layers of horny albumen; cotyledons oval, flat, slightly fleshy, the radicle very short and straight.

Parkinsonia, with four species, is confined to the warm parts of America and to southern Africa. Two species occur within the limits of the United States.

The genus is named for John Parkinson (1567—1650), an English botanical author, and herbalist to James I.

Conspectus of the North American Species.

Flowers in long slender racemes; petals imbricated in the bud; stamens shorter than the petals; legume 1—8-seeded, 12′—18′ long; leaves 7′—8′ long; rachis of the pinnæ flat, wing-margined, 50—60-foliolate; branches with spines.

1. P. aculeata (G, H).

Flowers in short racemes; petals valvate in the bud; stamens longer than the petals; legume 1—2-seeded; leaves about 1′ long; rachis of the pinnæ terete, 8—12-foliolate; branches without spines.

2. P. microphylla (G, H).

1. Parkinsonia aculeata L. Retama. Horse Bean.

Leaves of two forms, short-petiolate, persistent, light green and glabrous, except for a few hairs on the lower part of the young secondary rachis, 12′—18′ long; primary leaves on young branches, with 2—4 pinnæ, and a spinescent rachis developing into a stout ridged persistent short-pointed chestnut-brown spine 1′—1½′ long and marked near the base by the prominent scars left by the fall of the pinnæ; stipules persistent, appearing as lateral spiny branches on the spines; secondary leaves fascicled from the axils of the primary leaves, nearly sessile with a short terete spinescent rachis and 2 pinnæ; pinnæ flat, 12′—18′ in length, wing-margined, acute at apex, with 25—30 pairs of ovate or obovate petiolulate leaflets, /16′—⅛′ long. Flowers appearing on the growing branches during the spring and summer, and in the tropics throughout the year, on slender pedicels ⅓′—½′ in length, in slender erect racemes 5′—6′ long; petals bright yellow, the upper one marked near the base on the inner surface with conspicuous red spots; stamens shorter than the petals. Fruit hanging on pedicels ½′—¾′ in length, in graceful racemes, 2′—4′ long, long-pointed, dark orange-brown, slightly pilose, compressed between the remote seeds; seeds ⅓′ long, nearly terete, with thick albumen and a bright yellow embryo.

A tree, 18°—30° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, usually separating 6°—8° from the ground into slender spreading somewhat pendulous branches forming a wide graceful head, and slightly zigzag branchlets puberulous and yellow-green during their first season, becoming glabrous, gray or light orange color and roughened by lenticels in their second and third years. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, brown tinged with red, the generally smooth surface broken into small persistent plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, with very thick lighter colored sapwood tinged with yellow.

Distribution. Low moist soil, valley of the lower Rio Grande, Texas; common in northern Mexico and in the valley of the lower Colorado River, Arizona; widely distributed in Lower California; naturalized on Key West, the Bahamas, the West Indian islands, and in many other tropical countries.

Cultivated in most warm countries as an ornament of gardens, and to form hedges.

2. Parkinsonia microphylla Torr.

Leaves 1′ long, pale, densely tomentose when they unfold, pubescent at maturity, deciduous at the end of a few weeks; petiole ¼′ long; rachis short, rarely spinescent; leaflets in 4—6 pairs, distant, entire, sessile, broad-oblong or nearly orbicular, obtuse or somewhat acute at apex, oblique at base, ⅙′ long; stipules caducous. Flowers opening in May or early June before the leaves, on slender pedicels, in racemes 1′ or less long from the axils of leaves of the previous year, pale yellow; stamens longer than the petals. Fruit persistent on the branches for at least a year, frequently 1 or 2, rarely 3-seeded, 2′—3′ long, slightly puberulous, especially toward the base, with a long acuminate often falcate apex; seeds compressed, ⅓′ long, with a bright green embryo.

An intricately branched tree, occasionally 20°—25° high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, and stout pale yellow-green rigid branchlets terminating in a stout spine, covered at first with deciduous tomentum, slightly puberulous during their first and second seasons, and often marked by the persistent scales of undeveloped buds. Bark dark orange color, generally smooth, although sometimes roughened by scattered clusters of short pale gray horizontal ridges, becoming on old trees ¼′ thick; more often a shrub, frequently only a few feet tall. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, dark orange-brown streaked with red, with thick light brown or yellow sapwood of 25—30 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Deserts of southern Arizona and adjacent regions of California and Sonora, and in northern Lower California; known to attain the size and habits of a tree only in the neighborhood of Wickenburg, Maricopa County, Arizona.

10. Cercidium Tul.

Trees or shrubs, with stout tortuous branches, covered with bright green bark and armed with slender straight axillary spines, and minute obtuse buds. Leaves alternate, abruptly pinnate, petiolate, early deciduous; pinnæ 2 or occasionally 3, 6—8-foliolate; stipules inconspicuous or 0; leaflets ovate or obovate, without stipels. Flowers perfect in short few-flowered axillary racemes, solitary or fascicled, with minute membranaceous early deciduous bracts; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes equal, acute, reflexed at maturity, their margins scarious, slightly revolute; petals orbicular or short-oblong, unguiculate, bright yellow, the upper petal broader and longer clawed than the others, slightly auriculate at base of the blade, the claw conspicuously glandular at base; stamens 10, inserted with the petals on the margin of the disk, free, slightly declinate, exserted; filaments filiform, pilose below, the upper filament enlarged at base and gibbous on the upper side; anthers uniform, ovoid, versatile; ovary short-stalked, inserted at the base of the calyx-tube; styles slender, involute, infolded in the bud, with a minute terminal stigma; ovules suspended from the angle of the ovary opposite the posterior petal. Legume linear-oblong, compressed or somewhat turgid, straight or slightly contracted between the seeds, thickened on the margins, the ventral suture acute, or slightly grooved, tipped with the remnants of the style, tardily dehiscent, 2-valved, the valves membranaceous or subcoriaceous, obliquely veined. Seeds suspended longitudinally on a long slender funicle, ovoid, compressed, the minute hilum near the apex; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; embryo compressed, light green, covered on the sides only by a thin layer of horny albumen; cotyledons oval, flat, rather fleshy; radicle very short, erect, near the hilum.

Cercidium is confined to the warmer parts of the New World, where it is distributed with four or five species from the southern borders of the United States through Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela to Mendoza. Of the three species found within the territory of the United States two are small trees.

Cercidium produces hard wood sometimes used as fuel.

The generic name, from κερκίδιον, refers to the fancied resemblance of the legume to the weaver’s instrument of that name.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Species.

Legume compressed, with straight margins; leaflets green, slightly glandular.

1. C. floridum (E).

Legume somewhat turgid, the margins often slightly contracted between the seeds; leaflets glaucous.

2. C. Torreyanum (G, H).

1. Cercidium floridum Benth. Green-barked Acacia.

Leaves 1′—1½′ long, with 2 or rarely 3 pinnæ, a broad pubescent petiole and rachis, and oval or somewhat obovate dull green puberulous minutely glandular leaflets about /16′ in length, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, and when they unfold covered on the lower surface with scattered white hairs; petiolules short, stout, pubescent; appearing in April and deciduous in October. Flowers opening with the leaves, and produced in successive crops during three or four months, ¾′ in diameter, on slender pedicels, in 4 or 5-flowered racemes 1½′—2′ long, with small acute minute membranaceous caducous bracts. Fruit compressed, oblong, straight or slightly falcate, acute, narrowly and acutely margined on the ventral suture, glabrous, 2 or 3-seeded, 2′—2½′ long, ½′ broad, tardily dehiscent, the valves papery, yellow tinged with brown on the outer surface, and bright orange color within; seeds ⅓′ long.

A tree, 18°—20° high, with a short crooked trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, stout spreading branches covered with thin smooth bright green bark, forming a low wide head, and branchlets light or dark olive-green, slightly puberulous at first, soon glabrous, marked by occasional black lenticels, and armed with slender spines 1′ or less in length. Bark /16′ thick, light brown tinged with red, with numerous short horizontal light gray ridge-like excrescences. Wood light, soft, close-grained, pale yellow tinged with green, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Shores of Matagorda Bay to Hidalgo and Valverde Counties, Texas, and in northern Mexico; not common in Texas; very abundant and a conspicuous feature of vegetation in Mexico from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the foothills of the Sierra Madre.

2. Cercidium Torreyanum Sarg. Green-barked Acacia. Palo Verde.

Leaves few and scattered, 1′ long, hoary-tomentose when they first appear, puberulous at maturity, with a slender petiole and 2 pinnæ, with 2 or 3 pairs of oblong obtuse glaucous leaflets narrowed toward the somewhat oblique base, /12′—⅙′ long; unfolding in March and April and falling almost immediately when fully grown. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on slender pedicels ¾′—1′ long, in 4 or 5-flowered racemes about 1′ in length, with small acute membranaceous caducous bracts. Fruit ripening and falling in July, 3′—4′ long, ¼′—⅓′ wide, 2—8-seeded, slightly turgid, often somewhat contracted between the seeds, frequently grooved on the ventral suture; seeds turgid, ⅓′ long.

A low intricately branched tree, leafless for most of the year, 25°—30° high, with a short often inclining trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, stout spreading branches covered with yellow or olive-green bark, forming a wide open irregular head, and glabrous slightly zigzag light yellow or pale olive-green and glaucous branchlets armed with thin straight or curved spines ¼′ long. Bark thin, smooth, pale olive-green, becoming near the base of old trunks reddish brown, ⅛′ thick, furrowed and separating into thick plate-like scales. Wood heavy, not strong, soft, close-grained, light brown, with clear light yellow sapwood.

Distribution. Sides of low cañons and depressions, and sandhills of the desert; valley of the lower Gila River, Arizona, to the Colorado Desert of southern California, and southward into Sonora and Lower California; when in flower in early spring the conspicuous and most beautiful feature of the vegetation of the Colorado Desert.

11. Sophora L.

Trees or shrubs, with minute scaly buds, unarmed terete branches prolonged by an upper axillary bud, and fibrous roots. Leaves unequally pinnate, with numerous small or few and ample thin or coriaceous leaflets; stipules minute, deciduous; stipels often 0. Flowers in terminal or axillary racemes, with linear minute deciduous bracts and bractlets; calyx broad-campanulate, often slightly turbinate or obconic at base, obliquely truncate, the short teeth nearly equal or the 2 upper subconnate and often somewhat larger than the others; disk cupuliform, glandular, adnate to the calyx-tube; corolla papilionaceous; petals white or violet blue, unguiculate; standard obovate or orbicular, usually shorter than the oblong, suberect keel-petals, as long or rather longer than the oblong-oblique wings, overlapping each other at the back, barely united; stamens free, or 9 of them slightly united at base, uniform; anthers attached on the back near the middle; ovary short-stipitate, contracted into an incurved style, with a minute truncate or slightly rounded capitate stigma; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary, superposed, amphitropous. Legume terete, much contracted between the seeds, woody or fleshy, usually many-seeded, each seed inclosed in a separate cell, indehiscent. Seed oblong or oval, sometimes somewhat compressed; seed-coat thick, membranaceous or crustaceous; cotyledons thick and fleshy; radicle short and straight or more or less elongated and incurved.

Sophora is scattered over the warmer parts of the two hemispheres, with about twenty species of trees, shrubs or herbs; of the six North American species two are small trees. Several of the species produce valuable wood, and from the pods and flower-buds of the Chinese Sophora japonica L., a dye is obtained used to dye white cloth yellow and blue cloth green. This tree is often cultivated as an ornament of parks and gardens in northern China, Japan, the eastern United States, and in western, central, and southern Europe.

The generic name is from Sophera, the Arabic name of some tree with pea-shaped flowers.

Conspectus of the North American Arborescent Species.

Flowers violet blue, in terminal racemes; the upper calyx-lobes larger than the others and united; legume woody; seeds without albumen; leaves coriaceous, persistent.

1. S. secundiflora (C, E, H).

Flowers white, in axillary racemes; calyx-lobes equal; legume fleshy; seeds with albumen; leaves thin, deciduous.

2. S. affinis (C).

1. Sophora secundiflora DC. Frijolito. Coral Bean.

Leaves persistent, covered when they unfold, especially on the lower surface of the leaflets, with silky white hairs, and at maturity 4′—6′ long, with a stout puberulous petiole slightly enlarged at base, and 7—9 oblong-elliptic leaflets rounded, emarginate or sometimes mucronate at apex, gradually contracted at base into a short thick petiolule, coriaceous, lustrous and dark yellow-green above, rather paler below, glabrous or sometimes slightly puberulous along the under side of the stout midrib, entire, with thickened margins, conspicuously reticulate-veined, 1′—2½′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, without stipels. Flowers with a powerful and delicious fragrance, appearing with the young leaves in very early spring, 1′ long, on stout pedicels sometimes 1′ in length, from the axils of subulate deciduous bracts ½′ or more long, and bibracteolate with 2 acute bractlets, in terminal 1-sided canescent racemes 2′—3′ in length; calyx campanulate, slightly enlarged on the upper side, the 3 lower teeth triangular and nearly equal, the 2 upper rather larger and united almost throughout; petals shortly unguiculate, violet blue or rarely white, the broad erect standard marked on the inner surface near the base with a few darker spots; ovary coated with long silky white hairs. Fruit terete, 1′—7′ long, ½′ thick, stalked, crowned with the thickened remnants of the style, covered with thick hoary tomentum, indehiscent, 1—8-seeded, with hard woody walls ¼′ thick; seeds short-oblong, rounded, ½′ long, bright scarlet, with a small pale hilum and a bony seed-coat; albumen 0; cotyledons thick, orange-colored, filling the cavity of the seed; radicle short and straight.

A tree, 25°—35° high, with a straight trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, separating several feet from the ground into a number of upright branches forming a narrow head, and branchlets coated when they first appear with fine hairy tomentum, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous in their second year and pale orange-brown; more often a shrub, with low clustered stems. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, orange-colored, streaked with red, with thick bright yellow sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth. The seeds contain a poisonous alkaloid, sophorin, with strong narcotic properties.

Distribution. Borders of streams, forming thickets or small groves, in low rather moist limestone soil; shores of Matagorda Bay, Texas, to the mountain cañons of New Mexico, and to those of Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosí; of its largest size in the neighborhood of Matagorda Bay; south and west, especially west of the Pecos River, rarely more than a shrub.

Occasionally cultivated in the gardens of the southern states.

2. Sophora affinis T. & G.

Leaves deciduous, coated when they unfold with hoary pubescence, 6′—9′ long, with a slender puberulous petiole, and 13—19 elliptic, acute or obtuse slightly mucronate leaflets contracted into short stout pubescent petiolules, entire or with slightly wavy thickened margins, thin, pale yellow-green and glabrous above, paler and covered with scattered hairs or nearly glabrous below, 1′—1½′ long and ½′ wide, with a prominent orange-colored midrib, slender primary veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets. Flowers ½′ long, appearing in early spring with the young leaves, on slender canescent pedicels nearly ½′ long, from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, in slender pubescent semipendent racemes, 3′—5′ long, from the axils of the leaves at the end of the branches; calyx short-campanulate, abruptly narrowed at base, somewhat enlarged on the upper side, slightly pubescent, especially on the margins of the short nearly triangular teeth; petals short-unguiculate, white tinged with rose color; standard nearly orbicular, slightly emarginate, reflexed, as long and twice as broad as the ovate auriculate wing-petals and the keel-petals; ovary conspicuously stipitate, villose. Fruit ½′—3′ long, indehiscent, black, more or less pubescent, crowned with the thickened remnants of the style, 4—8-seeded, or rarely 1-seeded and then subglobose, with thin fleshy rather sweet walls; persistent on the branches during the winter; seeds oval, slightly compressed, with a thin crustaceous bright chestnut-brown seed-coat; cotyledons surrounded by a thin layer of horny albumen, bright green; radicle long and incurved.

A tree, 18°—20° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, dividing into a number of stout spreading branches forming a handsome round-topped head, and slender terete slightly zigzag branchlets, orange-brown or dark brown and slightly puberulous when they first appear, becoming bright green marked by narrow brown ridges, and in their second year by the elevated tomentose leaf-scars. Winter-buds depressed, almost surrounded by the base of the petiole, with broad scales coated on the outer surface with dark brown tomentum and on the inner surface with thicker pale tomentum, and persistent on the base of the growing shoot. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, dark reddish brown, and broken into numerous oblong scales, the surface exfoliating in thin layers. Wood heavy, very hard and strong, light red in color, with thick bright clear yellow sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Usually on limestone hills, or on the borders of streams, ravines, or depressions in the prairie, often forming small groves; valley of the Red River at Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, to the valley of the Arkansas River, Arkansas, and to southern Oklahoma (Choctaw and Love Counties), and southward in Texas to the valley of the San Antonio and upper Guadalupe Rivers (Kerrville, Kerr County).

12. Cladrastis Raf.