The honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), also known as the thorny locust or thorny honeylocust, is a deciduoustree in the family Fabaceae, native to central North America where it is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys.[4] Honey locust trees are highly adaptable to different environments, and the species has been introduced worldwide. Outside its natural range it can be an aggressive, damaging invasive species.[4]
The honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos, can reach a height of 20–30m (65–100ft).[5][6] They exhibit fast growth, but live a medium life span, as long as 125 years.[5] The leaves are pinnatelycompound on older trees but bipinnately compound on vigorous young trees.[4] The leaflets are 1.4–3.6cm (1⁄2–1+1⁄2in) long when compound and very slightly smaller when bipinnate.[7] The leaves are green in summer and turn yellow in autumn in shades ranging from cream and tan to golden yellow.[8] Honey locusts leaf out relatively late in spring, but generally slightly earlier than the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia).[9]
The strongly scented flowers appear in late spring.[10] Each cluster is a raceme 3–7centimeters long with many tiny greenish-yellow to greenish-white flowers.[7][11] The trees are polygamous-dioecious: many trees have only pollen producing flowers or seed producing flowers (strictly dioecious), but some will have both types of flowers in separate clusters, though usually one type will predominate.[12]
The fruit of the honey locust is a flat pod (a legume) that matures in early autumn and is often twisted or curved.[4] The average size of the pods is 7–35cm (3–14in) long and 1.5–3cm (1⁄2–1+1⁄4in) wide.[7] Once ripe the pod will contain as many as twenty dark brown oval seeds, each about 2cm (1in) long. Surrounding the seeds is a soft, gooey pulp with a slightly sweet flavor.[13] Pods may be produced from mid-September through mid-October in its native habitat.[14]
Honey locusts commonly have thorns6–10cm (2+1⁄2–4in) long growing out of the branches and trunk,[15] some reaching lengths of 20cm (8in);[5] these may be single, or branched into several points, and commonly form dense clusters.[4] The thorns are modified branches and occasionally sprout leaves.[10] Thornless forms are occasionally found growing wild and are commonly available as nursery plants.[4]
Detail of thorns
Honey locust tree thorns in Kansas
Detail of flowers
Autumn leaf color
Mature honeylocust fruits
Old growth honeylocust tree in Tennessee, US, 1941
Gleditsia triacanthos var. bujotii(Neumann) Rehder
1900
variety
= het.
Gleditsia triacanthos var. ferox(Desf.) Asch. & Graebn.
1907
variety
= het.
Gleditsia triacanthos var. horridaAiton
1789
variety
= het.
Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermisCastigl.
1790
variety
= het.
Gleditsia triacanthos var. laevisK.Koch
1853
variety
= het.
Gleditsia triacanthos var. macrocarposMichx.
1803
variety
= het.
Gleditsia triacanthos var. nana(Loudon) A.Henry
1912
variety
= het.
Gleditsia triacanthos var. polyspermaAiton
1789
variety
= het.
Melilobus heterophylaRaf.
1838
species
= het.
Vachellia villaregalis(McVaugh) Seigler & Ebinger
2006
species
= het.
Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym
Hybridization of honey locust with water locust (Gleditsia aquatica) has been reported.[20][21]
Names
The genus Gleditsia is named in honor of Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch, the director of what has become the Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum. The species name is derived from Greek and means "three thorns".[11] The common name most often used for the species is "honey locust".[22] This name comes from the slightly sweet pulp that surrounds the seeds in the tree's pods and their resemblance to the pods of the carob or "locust tree" from the middle east.[13][23] Honey locust is also used for the genus as a whole or for other species in it. The first recorded use of the name was in 1709 by John Lawson in his account A New Voyage to Carolina.[24] In the late 1800s honey locust was sometimes used as an alternate name in localized areas for other species such as for mesquit (Prosopis juliflora) in Texas and New Mexico, for black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) in Minnesota, and for clammy locust (Robinia viscosa) in New York and New Jersey.[25] Varients on this name include "common honey locust",[22] "honeylocust",[26] and "thornless honey locust".[22]
Though honey locust is the most commonly used name for the species in English, it has a variety of other names.[22] Some of these many names include "honey shucks locust", "sweet bean tree", "sweet locust", "thorny locust",[8] and "green locust tree".[27] In South Africa it is called "driedoringboom", driedoring-gleditsia", soetpeulboom", "springkaanboom", or "leoka".[22]
In the late 1800s it was known by additional local names including "black locust" (MS, TX, AR, KS, NB), "three-thorned acacia" (MA, RI, LA, TX, MI, NB, Onterio), "thorntree" (NY, IN, LA), "thorny acacia" (TN), and "piquant amourette" (LA).[25]
Range and habitat
The native range of the honey locust is widely agreed to be from northern Mexico through the Gulf Coast of the United States, northwards into the Midwest, parts of the US east coast, and the southernmost parts of Canada.[3][2][28] In Canada it is a rare forest species found in southern Ontario near Lake Huron, Ontario, or Erie.[29] However, Plants of the World Online (POWO) lists it as introduced to Ontario while NatureServe and World Plants list it as native.[3][2][28] It is listed as native to Nova Scotia by World Plants,[28] but as introduced by POWO and not recorded by NatureServe.[3][2] It is also recorded by NatureServe as growing as an introduced plant on Prince Edward Island.[2]
In the midwest it grows in very widely in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri and is much rarer and scattered in Wisconsin and Minnesota, North Dakota.[17] In Kansas it grows naturally in the eastern half of the state, and at the eastern and northern edge of Nebraska along the Missouri River, a small area of South Dakota, and the southern portion of Michigan.[30]
In the eastern United States honey locust trees are regarded as native to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New York.[3] Though the botanist Elbert Luther Little showed the range as extending naturally into Pennsylvania,[30] NatureServe list it as introduced to that state.[2] They likewise list it as introduced to Maine, Vermont, and New Jersey,[2] while both POWO and World Plants list it as native to all of them.[3][28]
In the American South, only NatureServe lists it as introduced to Deleware and the District of Columbia,[2] while World Plants lists it as native to both.[28] Plants of the World Online does not list it as growing wild in Washington, D.C.[3] It is listed as growing natively through all the rest of the south, though Elbert Luther Little's range map does not show it growing east of the Appalachian Mountains. Also, in Florida it is only shown as growing in a few isolated areas of the Florida Panhandle.[30]
To the west it grows throughout eastern Texas and Oklahoma, while becoming scattered and isolated to the west.[30] It is listed as introduced to New Mexico by POWO, but native in Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.[3] Contradicting this, NatureServe list it as native to New Mexico, while introduced in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.[2] Only World Plants lists it as native to many western states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.[28]
In Mexico it grows in four states; Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, and Tamaulipas.[28] Trees in Mexico are much smaller than those in the center of its range, reaching a maximum size of just 12m (39ft) and less than 6m (20ft) in some populations. They are also found in isolated locations growing on south facing slopes at elevations of 1170 to 1400meters.[31]
World wide it has become established outside of cultivation in Europe, southern Asia, Australia, southern Africa, and in Argentina and Uruguay.[3]
In its native range the honey locust grows in humid or subhumid climates.[32] It grows best in soils that are organically rich and moist, but well-drained. However, it is tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions.[11] It is intollerant of shade and is a minor componant of forests.[21]
Ecology
The sweet pulp in honey locust seed pods is attractive as a food for many animals including cattle, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and hares.[13]White-tailed deer are known to disperse the seeds of honey locust by consuming the pods and passing the seeds in their dung. It is likely that deer move the seeds over one kilometer from where they are eaten, though probably not more than three killometers and aid the tree in reaching new habitats and maintaining its wild population even in fragmented habitats.[14] The seeds themselves are consumed by crows in the winter.[33]
The the size and number of thorns on the honey locust are thought to have evolved to protect the trees from browsing Pleistocene megafauna, including mastodons, which may also have been involved in seed dispersal.[34]
The seeds of the honey locust are resistant to sprouting without damage to the seed coat. In controlled experiments only 5% of the seeds sprout without treatment. In comparison seeds soaked in concentrated sulfuric acid for one and a half hours increased germination to 68% and two and a half hours increases it to 98%.[33]
The honey locust moth (Syssphinx bicolor) feeds on honey locust and Kentucky coffee trees while a caterpillar. The first brood of the moths emerge from hibernation in the ground in the late spring. The green larvae have several horns on the backs and reach full size in about three weeks. When they reach full size they pupate in the soil. There may be two or three broods in a year.[35]
Honey locust trees are a frequent host for the parasitic plant American mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum), but usually is not infected by large numbers of them and without suffering obvious damage.[36]
Cultivation
Due to the honey locust's tolerance of urban problems such as salt spray, compacted soils, poor aeration, constrained planting areas, and pollution, it has been widely planted in cities.[37][38] In addition it will adapt to relatively dry conditions and either alkaline or acidic soils.[38] Once established it is also drought tollerant, though it grows best with good moisture.[8]
However, due to its wide planting many problems have been discovered.[37] Like maples and oaks, honey locust is particularly vulnerable to Ganoderma root rots, a fungal infection of the roots and lower trunk of the tree.[39] Thornless cultivars are also particularly vulnerable to the asian mimosa webworm. Though healthy trees are able to withstand one or two years of complete defoliation, stressed trees may be killed.[40]
Cultivars with narrow upright growth habit, such as Northern Sentinel, are especially prized as street trees. It is resistant to spongy moths. Spider mites, cankers, and galls are a problem with some trees. Many cultivated varieties do not have thorns.
Agriculture
The species is a major invasive environmental and economic weed in agricultural regions of Australia. The plant forms thickets and destroys the pasture required for livestock to survive. The thickets choke waterways and prevent both domestic and native animals from drinking and also harbour vermin. The spines cause damage to both people and domestic and native wildlife and puncture vehicle tires.[41][42] In much of the Midwest of the United States the honey locust is also considered a weed tree and a pest that establishes itself in farm fields.[43] In other regions of the world, ranchers and farmers who employ monocropping deem honey locust a nuisance weed; its fast growth allows it to out-compete grasses and other crops.
Uses
Food
Unripe honey locust pods
The pulp on the inside of the pods is edible[44] (unlike the black locust, which is toxic)[45] and consumed by wildlife and livestock.[44]
Despite its name, the honey locust is not a significant honey plant.[4] The name derives from the sweet taste of the legume pulp, which was used for food and traditional medicine by Native American people, and can also be used to make tea.[4] The long pods, which eventually dry and ripen to brown or maroon, are surrounded in a tough, leathery skin that adheres strongly to the pulp within. The pulp—bright green in unripe pods—is strongly sweet, crisp and succulent in ripe pods. Dark brown tannin-rich beans are found in slots within the pulp. Likewise, its edible seed has nutritional potential, and the flour made from its cotyledons constitutes a food source with various potential uses for pastry and bakery, among other gastronomic uses.[46]
Timber
Gleditsia triacanthos
Honey locusts produce a high quality, durable wood that polishes well, but the tree does not grow in sufficient numbers to support a bulk industry. However, a niche market exists for honey locust furniture. It is also used for posts and rails because of the dense, rot-resistant nature of the wood. The heartwood of honey locust is reddish brown while the sapwood is pale yellow. It is strong, but has a coarse grain texture.[47]
Nitrogen fixation
The ability of Gleditsia to fix nitrogen is disputed. Many scientific sources[48][49][50] state that Gleditsia does not fix nitrogen. Some support this statement with the fact that Gleditsia does not form root nodules with symbiotic bacteria, the assumption being that without nodulation, no nitrogen fixation can occur. In contrast, many popular sources, permaculture publications in particular, claim that Gleditsia does fix nitrogen but by some other mechanism.[citation needed]
There are anatomical, ecological, and taxonomic indications of nitrogen fixation in non-nodulating legumes.[51] Both nodulating and non-nodulating species have been observed to grow well in nitrogen-poor soil with non-nodulating legumes even dominating some sites. The litter and seeds of non-nodulating species contain levels of nitrogen higher than non-legumes and sometimes even higher than nodulating legumes growing on the same site.[52] How this happens is not yet well understood but there have been some observations of nitrogenase activity in non-nodulating leguminous plants, including honey locust.[51] Electron microscopy indicates the presence of clusters around the inner cortex of roots, just outside the xylem, that resemble colonies of rhizobial bacterioids.[51] These may well constitute the evolutionary precursors in legumes for nitrogen fixation through nodulation. It is not known whether the non-nodulating nitrogen fixation, if it exists, benefits neighboring plants as is said to be the case with nodulating legumes.
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species.
Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to a few small areas of the United States, but it has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas, such as the temperate east coast of Australia where the cultivar "Frisia" was widely planted as a street tree before being classed as a weed. Another common name is false acacia, a literal translation of the specific name.
Legumes are plants in the family Fabaceae, or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption; for livestock forage and silage; and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides.
The carob is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the Caesalpinioideae sub-family of the legume family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible fruit, which takes the form of seed pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens and landscapes. The carob tree is native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Portugal is the largest producer of carob, followed by Italy and Morocco.
Gleditsia is a genus of trees in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, native to the Americas and Asia. The Latin name commemorates Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden, who died in 1786.
Locusts are the swarming phase of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acridida.
Prosopis juliflora is a shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, a kind of mesquite. It is native to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. It has become established as an invasive weed in Africa, Asia, Australia and elsewhere. It is a contributing factor to continuing transmission of malaria, especially during dry periods when sugar sources from native plants are largely unavailable to mosquitoes.
Locust tree can mean:
Leucaena leucocephala is a small fast-growing mimosoid tree native to southern Mexico and northern Central America and is now naturalized throughout the tropics including parts of Asia.
Prosopis pallida is a species of mesquite tree. It has the common names kiawe, huarango and American carob, as well as "bayahonda", "algarrobo pálido", and "algarrobo blanco". It is a thorny legume, native to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, particularly drier areas near the coast. While threatened in its native habitat, it is considered an invasive species in many other places.
Gleditsia × texana, the Texas honey locust, is a tree native to America. It is a naturally occurring hybrid of Gleditsia aquatica × Gleditsia triacanthos.
Neltuma glandulosa, formerly Prosopis glandulosa, commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family (Fabaceae).
Vachellia nilotica, more commonly known as Acacia nilotica, and by the vernacular names of gum arabic tree, babul, thorn mimosa, Egyptian acacia or thorny acacia, is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. It is also considered a 'weed of national significance' and an invasive species of concern in Australia, as well as a noxious weed by the federal government of the United States.
Caragana arborescens, the Siberian peashrub, Siberian pea-tree, or caragana, is a species of legume native to Siberia and parts of China and neighboring Mongolia and Kazakhstan. It was taken to the United States by Eurasian immigrants, who used it as a food source while travelling west. In some areas of the United States it is considered an invasive species. Introduced on the Canadian prairies in the 1880's, the hardy caragana provided shelter-belts, wildlife habitat, nitrogen fixation, and windbreaks to prevent soil erosion and snow drifting.
Inga edulis, known as ice-cream bean, ice-cream-bean, joaquiniquil, cuaniquilguama or guaba, is a fruit native to South America. It is in the mimosoid tribe of the legume family Fabaceae. It is widely grown, especially by Indigenous Amazonians, for shade, food, timber, medicine, and production of the alcoholic beverage cachiri. It is popular in Peru, Ecuador, Pernambuco-Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana and Colombia. The taxonomic name Inga is derived from its name with the Tupí people of South America (ingá) while the species name edulis is Latin for "edible". The common name "ice-cream bean" alludes to the sweet flavor and smooth texture of the pulp.
Gleditsia aquatica, commonly called water locust or swamp locust after its habitat of river swamps and slough margins, is a tree native to the Southeastern United States and adjacent regions.
Gleditsia caspica, the Caspian locust or Persian honeylocust, is a species of Gleditsia native to western Asia, in the Caucasus region of Azerbaijan and northern Iran, close to the Caspian Sea.
Gleditsia sinensis, known as zào jiá (皂荚) or Chinese honey locust and black locust in English, is a species of flowering plant native to Asia.
Coriaria arborea is a highly poisonous and common native shrub or small tree of New Zealand. The common name for this and the other New Zealand species of Coriaria is tutu.
Blepharidopterus chlorionis, known commonly as the honeylocust plant bug and under the synonym Diaphnocoris chlorionis, is a hemipteran in the family Miridae. They are a major pest of the honey locust tree, a deciduous tree native to central North America.
1 2 3 Nesom, Guy. "Honey Locust"(PDF). Plant Guide. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
↑ Coombes, Allen J. (2023). Trees (American edition, Newed.). New York: Dk Publishing. p.137. ISBN978-0-7440-7420-8.
↑ Breen, Patrick. "Gleditsia triacanthos". Landscape Plants. Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
1 2 Sullivan, J. (1994). "Gleditsia triacanthos". U.S. Forest Service. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
1 2 3 4 5 Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p.1084. ISBN978-0-8493-2673-8.
1 2 Kling, Gary J.; Lindsey, Christopher P.; Zampardo, Mark E. "Gleditsia triacanthos habit". UI Plants. University of Illinois at UIPLANTS. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
1 2 Little, Elbert L. (1994) [1980]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Western Region (Chanticleer Pressed.). Knopf. p.495. ISBN0394507614.
↑ Allen, ON; Allen, EK (1981). The Leguminosae: A Source Book of Characteristics, Uses, and Nodulation. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press. p.812. ISBN978-0-299-08400-4.
↑ Djumaeva D, Lamers JP, Martius C, Khamzina A, Ibragimov N, Vlek PL (2010). "Quantification of symbiotic nitrogen fixation by Elaeagnus angustifolia L. on salt-affected irrigated croplands using two 15N isotopic methods". Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems. 88 (3): 329–339. Bibcode:2010NCyAg..88..329D. doi:10.1007/s10705-010-9357-5. S2CID8129669.
↑ Zhang, J. P.; Tian, X. H.; Yang, Y. X.; Liu, Q. X.; Wang, Q; Chen, L. P.; Li, H. L.; Zhang, W. D. (2016). "Gleditsia species: An ethnomedical, phytochemical and pharmacological review". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 178: 155–71. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.11.044. PMID26643065.
Sternberg G, Wilson J (2004). Native Trees for North American Landscapes. Portland, OR: Timber Press. p.552. ISBN978-0-881-92607-1.
Sullivan, J. (1994). "Gleditsia triacanthos". Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
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