Honey Locust Tree

Honey Locust Tree (Gleditschia triacanthos)—also known as the SWEET LOCUST and BLACK LOCUST, and in Britain as the THREE-THORNED ACACIA—a lofty and beautiful tree of the natural order Leguminosae, sub-order Cæsalpineæ, a native of the valleys of the Alleghanies and of the basin of the Mississippi. It is not found wild on the Atlantic coast of North America, although often planted for ornament in the vicinity of habitations. The flowers—which are small, greenish, and in spikes—have, when perfect, six stamens and one pistil, but are very generally unisexual. The leaves are twice pinnate, without terminal leaflets, the numerous small leaflets giving a peculiar gracefulness to the foliage, which is of a light shining green. The tree is furnished with numerous sharp triple spines. The pods are long, flat, pendulous, often twisted; the seeds large, brown, and enveloped in a pulp, which, when the pod is ripe, is very sweet. Sugar has been made from it, and when fermented it yields an intoxicating beverage in use among the American Indians. The honey locust attains a height of 70 or 80 feet. Trees of large size are to be seen in some parts of Britain. The wood resembles that of the Locust Tree (q.v.), or False Acacia (Robinia pseudacacia), but is more coarse-grained.