Robinia pseudacacia, 
THE COMMON LOCUST-TREE. 
Synonymes. 
Robinia pseudacacia, 
Robinia pseudo-acacia, 
Robinier faux-acacia, Acacia blanc, Aca- ) 
cia commun, Acacia des jardiniers, > 
Carouge des americains, ) 
Gemeine Acacie, Schotendorn, 
Acacia falsa, Acacia, Pseudacacia, Robinia, 
Acacia falsa, Algarrobo americano, 
Acacia bastarda, 
Virginian Acacia, False Acacia, Bastard 
Acacia, Locust-tree, 
Yellow Locust, 
Black Locust, 
Red Locust, Green Locust, White Locust, 
Linn^us, Species Plantarum. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Lamarck, Illustration des Genres. 
Du Hamel, Traite des Arbres et Arbustes. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
Selby, British Forest Trees. 
Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
Michaux, .itforth American Sylva. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Spain. 
Portugal. 
Britain. 
State of Maine. 
Western States. 
Other parts of the United States. 
Derivations. This species, when first introduced into Europe, was supposed to be the Egyptian acacia, (Acacia vera,) but 
was afterwards contradistinclively named False Acacia. It was named Locust-tree by the missionaries, who were among the 
early collectors of trees, and who fancied that it was the tree that supported St. John in the wilderness. The word Carouge, is 
the French name for carob bean, the locust-tree of Spain ; which, being also indigenous to Syria, is probably the true locust, 
mentioned in the New Testament. The German name, Schotendorn, is compounded of schote, a pod or legume, and dorn, 
a thorn, having reference to the pods and spines which this species bears. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 76 ; Audubon, Birds of America, pi. cix. ; Loudon, Arboretum Britan- 
nicum, v., pi. 83; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Prickles stipular. Branches twiggy. Racemes of flowers loose and pendulous ; and 
smooth, as are the legumes. Leaflets ovate. The flowers are white, and sweet-scented ; the roots 
creeping, and their fibres sometimes bearing tubercules. De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Description. 
Robinia pseudaca- 
from the valuable 
properties of its wood, 
and the beauty of its 
foliage and flowers, 
of the American forests, 
tions, it attains a height 
feet, 
IHE 
cia. 
ranks among the first trees 
,, it 
and 
In 
of 
favourable situa- 
eighty or ninety 
sometimes exceeds four feet in diam- 
eter ; but ordinarily, it does not surpass half of 
these dimensions. On the trunks and large 
limbs of old trees, the bark is very thick, and 
deeply furrowed, but on young trees, not more 
than two or three inches in diameter, it is 
armed with strong, hooked prickles, which dis- 
appear altogether as they grow old; and in 
some varieties they are wanting even when 
young. These prickles are only attached to 
the bark, like those of the common rose, or the 
