Both members of the pea family , black locust and honeylocusts are aboriginal trees found throughout the continental United States , except for Washington and Oregon , where only inglorious locusts are native .

Both member of the pea family , pitch-black locustsand honeylocusts are native trees find throughout the continental United States , except for Washington and Oregon , where only black locusts are native . These marvellous , airy tree have a number of departure , some of which affect their suitability as landscape painting specimen for nursing home gardeners .

Size and Shape

smutty locust tree ( Robinia pseudoacacia ) are medium - sized trees reaching 50 foot improbable , although fantastic specimens sometimes uprise as high as 80 feet . The trunk is straight , but individual stanch and ramification grow in a zigzag - zag fashion . The crown of the tree is a narrow oblong . The blackish - gray bark gives the tree its common name . Honeylocusts ( Gleditsia triacanthos ) grow 60 to 100 feet tall and wide , with an open , spread canopy and a myopic or arc main trunk . The stems on honeylocusts also zig - zag . The barque is medium to abstemious gray .

Leaves and Thorns

As you would have a bun in the oven from member of the pea family , the leaf on both tree diagram are foresightful and compound , with a key stem and diminished leaflets . The leaves on black-market locust tree grow 6 to 14 inches long , with seven to 19 leaflets . The leaves are dark bluish - green and change to a imperfect yellow - green in downfall . Black locusts have 1/4- to 1/2 - inch - retentive backbone , always in brace , at the client where the leaves emerge from the stems . The folio on honeylocusts are modest , seldom raise more than 8 inches long . In addition , the leave-taking may either be in the same chemical compound kind as disgraceful locust , with a central stem view as the leaflets , or bipinnately colonial , meaning side stems issue from the primal shank ; the leaflets are attached to the side stems . Honeylocust farewell are vivid green in summer and all the way yellow in fall . The spikelet on honeylocusts are quite distinct : large and reddish brown , they separate into three degree , although spines on the trunk may have more points . The prickle can be found singly along the stems or in large clumps .

Flowers and Fruits

Both locusts blossom in mid to late natural spring . The flowers on black locust are small and white , held in a drooping , 4- to 8 - column inch - long cluster . The flowers are gaudy and fragrant , and are followed by flat , dark-brown or calamitous germ pods up to 4 inch long . The greenish - yellow flowers on honeylocusts are sweetly fragrant but not showy , growing only 2 in long . However , they ’re followed by long , twisting seed pods that have a solid dearest perfume when right , giving the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree its common name .

Uses

black-market locusts are rarely used as landscape specimen but are excellent for reforesting cleared land and stabilise slope . The root sucker abundantly , so an item-by-item tree can quickly work into a small coppice of trees . Honeylocusts make splendid lawn ghost trees , as the airy foliage allows enough dappled sunlight to allow grass to grow under the tree . Choose only spineless , male varieties ( G. triacanthos inermis ) for home use . Good cultivar for home plate landscapes are Shademaster , Imperial and Sunburst .

References

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