Shape broadly oval at the top, up to 100 ft. tall. Bark grayish, rough with firm prominent scales. Trunk columnar, often branchless for 70 feet. Branches in winter appearing stump-like. Twigs bright yellow. Leaflets pale yellow green below, margins slightly curled under. The leaves appear very late (May) and, turning clear yellow in autumn, drop early. Flowers in summer, the sexes on separate trees. Pods hanging unopened on branches all winter; a sweet pulp between the bean-like seeds. Range: w. N. Y. through the s. Gt. Lakes region to the Missouri; w. of the Alleghenies to Miss. and Okla. This strange, lovely tree is perhaps rarer in the wild than in cultivation. The beans were formerly used for “coffee,” and the wood is employed for posts, ties, and furniture, because it is so durable.
Black Locust
BLACK LOCUST
(Robinia Pseudoacacia)
Shape rather narrowly oblong, up to 80 ft. tall. Bark grayish to blackish, with very high, sinewy, braiding ridges. Twigs armed with spines sometimes 1 in. long. Leaves very thin, dull dark blue green, paler beneath, turning yellow in autumn. Flowers in May and June, fragrant. Pods persistent long after leaf-fall. Range: Appalachians, Pa. to Ga., and in Okla. and Ark. Widely planted and naturalized elsewhere. The wood of this favorite street and lawn tree is hard and durable, used for ship-building, fence posts and turnery. The bark of the roots is valued in pharmacy. CLAMMY LOCUST (Robinia viscosa) is at most a small tree, with very slender trunk: twigs and leaf stalks sticky hairy. Widely planted for its superb rose red, odorless flowers. In the wild confined to w. N. C. and e. Tenn.
Honey Locust
HONEY LOCUST
(Gleditsia triacanthos)
Shape with a broad, flat topped head, up to 140 ft. tall. Bark dark gray, scaly. Twigs zigzag, with swollen joints. Spines red to brown, in leaf axils or on stem and branches. Leaves turning yellow in autumn. Flowers in June, intensely fragrant. Pods many-seeded, pulpy within, contracting by cork-screw twists in withering. Range: from w. slopes of Alleghenies (Pa. to Ala.) across the Gt. Valley to Neb. and Kans., n. to Wis. and Mich. and w. N. Y., s. to ne. Tex. The durable wood is used for railroad ties and farm implements. Because of its bee-haunted flowers and airy foliage, this is a favorite farm tree, cultivated far beyond its range in the wild. WATER LOCUST (Gleditsia aquatica) of the Gulf States, up the Gt. Valley to Mo., Ky. and Ind., along the coast to N. C., differs in its broader, oblique leaflets and its 2-seeded, oval, pulpless pod.
