GYMNOCLADUS
- Gymnocladus, Lamarck, Dict. i. 773 (ex parte) (1783); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Pl. i. 568 (1865).
- Guilandina, Linnæus, Gen. Pl. 518 (ex parte) (1742).
Deciduous trees, belonging to the division Cæsalpinieæ of the order Leguminosæ. Branches stout and without thorns. Leaves large, alternate, bipinnate, the number of pinne being either odd or even; pinnæ and leaflets usually alternate. Stipules foliaceous, early deciduous.
Flowers polygamous or diœcious, terminal or axillary, in racemes or racemose corymbs, on long pedicels. Calyx tubular, lined with a glandular disc, ten-ribbed, five-lobed, the lobes narrow and nearly equal. Petals four to five, slightly unequal, imbricated, inserted on the. margin of the disc, spreading. Stamens ten, free, shorter than the petals and inserted with them, those opposite the calyx lobes longer than the others; anthers oblong. Ovary rudimentary or absent in the staminate flowers, sessile or sub-sessile in the polygamous and pistillate flowers; style short and dilated above obliquely into a two-lobed stigma. Ovules four or numerous.
Pod oblong, thick, coriaceous, dark brown, flattened, beaked at the apex, slightly curved or falcate, on stalks ½ to 2 inches long, pulpy between the seeds. Valves two, narrowly winged on the margins. Seeds on long slender stalklets ; seed-coat thick and bony ; embryo surrounded by a layer of horny albumen.
Only two species are known, one occurring in China and doubtfully hardy in this country, the other a native of N. America and cultivated in England.
GYMNOCLADUS CHINENSIS, Chinese Soap Tree
- Gymnocladus chinensis, Baillon, Compt. Rend. Assoc. Franç. Avanc. Sc. 1874, p. 418, t. 4, and Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, 1875, p. 33; Oliver, in Hooker, Icon. Plant. xv. 9, t. 1412 (1883); Hemsley, Journ. Linn. Soc (Bot.) xxiii. 207 (1887).
- Dialium sp.?, Hanbury, Science Papers, 238, fig. 5 (1876).
A tree attaining 40 feet in height. Young shoots rusty pubescent. Leaves 1 to 3 feet long; pinnæ alternate or sub-opposite, all composed of numerous (twenty
1 The stigma of Gymnocladus chinensis is not correctly shown in Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 1412.
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