Seedling
A plant, raised from seed sown at Colesborne on 2nd March, showed the following characters on 7th July :—Root white, fleshy, tapering, 3 inches long, giving off numerous lateral fibres. Caulicle striated, glabrous, 1½ inch long. Cotyledons two, sub-sessile, oblong, tapering slightly at the base, broader towards the rounded apex, green above, white beneath, coriaceous, entire. Stem terete, with a few scattered hairs below, densely white pubescent above. Leaves, all with petioles swollen at the base; first pair opposite, on pubescent stalks, simple, ovate, entire, 2 inches long by 14 inch broad. The third, fourth, and fifth leaves are alternate; the third simple and like the first pair; the fourth and fifth trifoliolate on a stalk 2 inches long, terminal leaflet ovate, lateral leaflets oval and smaller.
Identification
Cladrastis tinctoria is readily distinguishable in summer by the pinnate leaves with alternate leaflets, of which the terminal one is directed to one side of the leaf; and by the swollen base of the petiole, which encloses and conceals the buds.
In winter the following characters are available (Plate 126, fig. 4):—Twigs zig- zag, shining, brown or grey, terete, glabrous; lenticels minute, numerous. Leaf-scars alternate, obliquely set on slightly prominent pulvini, oval, whitish, with five bundle- dots on the outer rim, the centre of the scar being occupied by a projecting cone, which consists of four buds compressed together and superposed one above the other, the uppermost one the largest, all pubescent. Terminal bud not formed, the apex of the twig showing a small circular scar or a short stump, indicating where the top of the branchlet fell off in early summer.
Distribution
Cladrastis tinctoria is one of the rarest trees in the American forest, growing only in a few isolated localities in central Kentucky, central and eastern Tennessee, northern Alabama, and the south-western part of N. Carolina. It is met with on limestone ridges and cliffs, usually in rich soil, and frequently overhangs mountain streams. (A.H.)
Cultivation
The yellow-wood is a favourite ornamental tree in American gardens, where, according to Sargent,’ it adapts itself readily to varied conditions of soil and climate, though it requires deep rich soil in order to attain its full size and beauty. It has a tendency, however, which in England is equally marked, to divide into several spreading stems, which are rather brittle and liable to split the trunk. Its long racemes of white fragrant flowers make it a very pretty tree early in June, but in our climate these are not produced as freely as in America, and I have never seen fruit ripened in this country. In autumn the leaves turn a bright yellow.
1 Garden and Forest, i. p. 92.
