The common yellow or black locust is famous for its hard, durable wood, its delicate light green leaves, and its white flowers.
The tree is not very beautiful when the leaves are off, but its wood is so valuable that its beauty is not considered. The wood is yellow and becomes very hard after it has dried.
The honey locust is another common member of this family.
Fig. 101.
The Locust The Honey Locust
44. The Honey Locust. Its leaves are much finer and somewhat resemble ferns. It may always be known by the dangerous sharp-pointed thorns which grow all over the tree. These thorns are unusually large, sometimes being found in great bunches and as long as six inches. Its fruit is a long, thin, brownish pod, which is sweet and contains little light brown beans. The wood is strong and durable.
45. The Ash. Every boy who has owned a rowboat knows that oars are made of wood from the ash. This is because the oar must be elastic as well as strong, and the timber of the ash tree supplies these two qualities. The ash is one of our tallest and noblest forest trees. It is rather slim in build, with beautiful clean shiny green foliage. The members of this group seem to be fond of colors, and we have the white ash, red ash, green ash, blue ash, and black ash.
There are slight differences in the leaves and seeds, but, as in other trees, when we have once seen an ash seed we can always thereafter distinguish an ash tree. [Fig. 102] shows the seed of the red ash. It is a winged seed, with the seed part inclosed by the wing.
