Handbook of the Trees of New EnglandBrooks, Henry M. (Henry Mason)
History
Handbook of the Trees of New England
Brooks, Henry M. (Henry Mason)
Trees -- New England; Trees -- North America
=Inflorescence.=--Late May or early June. Showy and abundant, in loose,
pendent, axillary racemes; calyx short, bell-shaped, 5-cleft, the two
upper segments mostly coherent; corolla shaped like a pea blossom, the
upper petal large, side petals obtuse and separate; style and stigma
simple.
=Fruit.=--A smooth, dark brown, flat pod, about 3 inches long,
containing several small brown flattish seeds, remaining on the tree
throughout the winter.
=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England in all dry, sunny
situations, of rapid growth, spreading by underground stems, ordinarily
short-lived and subject to serious injury by the attacks of borers.
Occasionally procurable in large quantities at a low rate. In Europe
there are many horticultural forms, a few of which are occasionally
offered in American nurseries. The type is propagated from seed, the
forms by grafting.
[Illustration: PLATE LXVII.--Robinia Pseudacacia.]
1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower with corolla removed.
4. Fruiting branch.
=Robinia viscosa, Vent.=
CLAMMY LOCUST.
This tree appears to be sparingly established in southern Canada and at
many points throughout New England.
Common in cultivation and occasionally established through the middle
states; native from Virginia along the mountains of North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia.
Easily distinguished from _R. Pseudacacia_ by its smaller size,
glandular, viscid branchlets, later period of blossoming, and by its
more compact, usually upright, scarcely fragrant, rose-colored
flower-clusters.
SIMARUBACEAE. AILANTHUS FAMILY.
=Ailanthus glandulosus, Desf.=
AILANTHUS. TREE-OF-HEAVEN. CHINESE SUMAC.
Sparsely and locally naturalized in southern Ontario, New England, and
southward.
A native of China; first introduced into the United States on an
extensive scale in 1820 at Flushing, Long Island; afterwards
disseminated by nursery plants and by seed distributed from the
Agricultural Department at Washington. Its rapid growth, ability to
withstand considerable variations in temperature, and its dark luxuriant
foliage made it a great favorite for shade and ornament. It was planted
extensively in Philadelphia and New York, and generally throughout the
eastern sections of the country. When these trees began to fill the
ground with suckers and the vile-scented sterile flowers poisoned the
balmy air of June and the water in the cisterns, occasioning many
distressing cases of nausea, a reaction set in and hundreds of trees
were cut down. The female trees, against the blossoms of which no such
objection lay, were allowed to grow, and have often attained a height of
50-75 feet, with a trunk diameter of 3-5 feet. The fruit is very
beautiful, consisting of profuse clusters of delicate pinkish or
greenish keys.
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