FABACEAE - - Legume Family

Cladrastis kentukea (Dumont de Courset) Rudd — Yellow-wood

Yellow-wood (Cladrastis kentukea) - This beautiful medium sized tree in the Legume Family (Fabaceae), previously known as Cladrastis lutea, is widely cultivated as an ornamental for its fragrant white flowers, and handsome foliage turning yellow in autumn. The leaves are very distinctive, they are odd-pinnately compound like Ash (Fraxinus) and Hickory (Carya), but unlike those genera the leaflets are alternately arranged (see leaf photo) and usually number 7 to 9; leaf rachis greatly enlarged and covering the winter buds, which are naked and woolly. The flowers are white (standard petal marked with yellow blotch), fragrant, and in panicles 25-40 cm. long; pods 7-8 cm. long. The bark is thin, dark gray, and smooth.

Habitat:

Mountain forests, Piedmont bluffs, especially on calcareous or mafic rocks (introduced only in the Piedmont of NC).

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Cladrastis kentukea (Yellow-wood)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Cladrastis kentukea (Yellow-wood)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.