148 



American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 4 



Fig. 84. Fremont dalea 



{Dalea Fremonli var, 



Johnson'i). 



Fig. 83. Western locust {Robinia luxurians) . 



Western Locust {Rob'mia luxurians 

 (Dieck.) Schneid.), fig. 83. — Tall many-stemmed 

 shrub or small tree up to 25 or 30 feet high, the 

 stems armed with stout, straight or curved spines 

 below the leaves; leaflets 15 to 21, oblong-elliptic 

 to oval, ^2 to 1 inch long; flowers light rose-pink, 

 resembling pea flowers, borne in dense showy 

 clusters; pods flat, 2 to 5 inches long, about ^ 

 inch wide, bristly-hairy and glandular; seeds nu- 

 merous, in two rows. 



The species favors the cooler mountain can- 

 yons where the large clusters of rose pink flowers 

 are very lovely in the Spring. Locust is a fa- 

 vorite with honey bees. The flowers were gath- 

 ered and used for food by the Indians of the 

 Southwest. Both the leaves and flowers are eaten 

 by mule deer on the Kaibab range of the North 

 Rim of the Grand Canyon. (Syn. R. neotnexi- 

 cana Auth., not Gray.^l) 



31 Rehder, Alfred, Manual of cultivated trees and shrubs hardy in North America, 

 second edition, revised and enlarged, p. 511. 1940. 



