SOME LITTLE-KNOWN POD-BEARERS Brief mention may be made here of a number of relatives of our locust trees which are little known because they are restricted to small areas distant from the Eastern States whose forests we know somewhat better than those of other sections of this great continent. They are omitted from the key to avoid making it too complex for easy use.
The Horse Bean, or Retama (Parkinsonia aculeata, Linn.), native to the valleys of the lower Rio Grande and the Colorado, is a small, graceful tree with drooping branches, which are clothed with strong spines, long leaf stems set with many pairs of tiny leaflets, and bright yellow, fragrant perennial flowers. In the tropics the tree is ever-blooming. Fri Texas it rests only in midwinter. The pods are long, and constricted between the seeds. As an ornamental hedge plant this tree has no equal in the Southwest.
The Small - leaf Horse Bean (Parkinsonia microphylla, Torr.) has its leaf stems as well as leaflets much reduced. It grows in complexly gnarled form in the deserts of Arizona and California. The yellow flowers are much smaller than those of the preceding species; the few-seeded beaked pods, larger. This little tree or shrub has its branches sharpened into stout thorns, which have green bark.
The Cat's Claw (Zigia Unguis-cati, Sudw.), of southern Florida, has persistent, twice pinnate leaves, each division bearing but two leaflets. A pair of spines guards the base of each leaf. The flowers are in compound panicles; the pods long, thin, and contorted in ripening. The shape of the petals is described by the tree's name.
The Texan Ebony (Zigia flexicaule, Sudw.), of southern Texas and Mexico, is a beautiful, acacia-like tree, with feathery leaves, racemed, creamy, fragrant flowers and large, woody pods, not quite so large as those of honey locust. These pods are cooked and eaten when half grown. The ripe pods are roasted, and ground to make a substitute for coffee. The wood is valuable in fine cabinet work, and for posts and fuel. It deserves the attention of gardeners and foresters in all warm temperate countries. Professor Sargent considers it the most valuable ornamental tree native to Texas.
The Huisache, or Cassie (Acacia Farnesiana, Willd.), belongs to a great tropical suborder of the pod-bearers which is widely distributed over the earth. The valuable blackwood of Australia belongs to it and Acacia Arabica, of Egypt and southern Asia, which yields the bulk of the gum arabic of com merce. Valuable timber, tan barks, dyes, perfumes and drugs are yielded by acacias. As ornamentals, the trees rank very high.
The huisache grows wild in the Rio Grande Valley, and has become established in Florida and the other Gulf States, having escaped from cultivation. It is a small, spiny tree, with graceful, spreading branches, and pendulous twigs covered with feathery twice pinnate leaves. The flowers are numerous, bright yellow, in heads, and very fragrant. The thick pods contain two rows of flattened seeds. In Italy this species is cultivated for its flowers, which are used in the making of perfumes. It is culti vated in gardens the world over, and has generally established itself in the warmer parts of every continent. It yields tannin, gums and valuable lumber.
The Cat's Claw (Acacia Wrightii, Benth.), of western Texas, is less graceful than the huisache, and more often seen as a shrub. The yellow flowers are borne in finger-like close racemes. The pods are large, flat and irregular, with small, oval seeds. The leaves are twice pinnate; the spines, short and recurved.
The Cat's Claw (Acacia Greggii, Gray), of the region from western Texas to California, differs from A. Wrigbtii in having its pods twisted, and its seeds larger and circular in outline.
The Frijolito, or Coral Bean (Sophora secundiflora, DC.), is a small, slender, narrow-headed tree, with persistent, locust-like leaves, and fragrant, violet-blue flowers in small, one-sided racemes. The pods are silky white, pencil-like, and the seeds are bright scarlet. The tree grows wild in canons in southern Texas and in New Mexico, and is highly recommended by Professor Sargent for cultivation throughout the South. It is a close rela tive of the famous Japan pagoda tree, S. Japonica, of universal cultivation.