This section is from the book "An Illustrated Flora Of The Northern United States, Canada And The British Possessions Vol2", by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown. Also available from Amazon: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 Volume Set..
Trees, with odd-pinnate leaves, no stipules nor stipels, the petiole-base hollow. Flowers showy, white, in terminal panicles. Calyx-teeth 5, short, broad. Standard orbicular-obovate, reflexed; wing oblong; keel incurved, obtuse, its petals distinct. Stamens 10, all distinct; filaments slender; anthers all alike, versatile. Ovary sessile or nearly so; ovules few; style incurved. Pod linear or lanceolate, short-stalked, flat, at length 2-valved, few-seeded. [Greek, brittle-branch.]
A monotypic genus of the southeastern United States, related to the Manchurian Maackia.
Fig. 2450
Virgilia lutea Michx. f. Arb. Am. 3: 266. pl. 3. 1813. Cladrastis fragrans Raf. Cat. Bot. Gard. Trans. 12.
Name only. 1824. Cladrastis tinctoria Raf. Neogenyton 1. 1825. Cladrastis lutea Koch, Dendrol. 1: 6. 1869.
A smooth-barked tree, with maximum height of about 500 and trunk diameter of about 3 1/2°. Foliage nearly glabrous; leaves petioled; leaflets 5_11, ovate, oval or obovate, stalked, 2'-4' long, pointed or blunt-acuminate at the apex, obtuse or the terminal one cuneate at the base; panicles many-flowered, drooping, 10'-20' long; pedicels slender, $"-9" long; calyx tubular-campanulate; corolla white, about l' long; pod short-stalked, glabrous, 2'-4' long, 4"-5" wide, 2-6-seeded.
In rich soil, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and western North Carolina. Wood yellow, hard, strong, yielding a yellow dye; weight per cubic foot 39 lbs. Flowers fragrant. June. Yellow-ash or -locust. Gopher-wood. Fustic-tree.
 
Continue to: