Gleditschia monosperma, 
THE ONE-SEEDED GLEDITSCHIA. 
Synonymes. 
Gleditschia monosperma, 
Fevier monosperme, 
Einsamiger Honigdorn, 
Gleditschia monosperma, 
Water Locust, 
' Walter, Flora Caroliniana. 
De Candoi.le, Prodromus. 
Michaux, North American Sylva 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum 
Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Britain and Anglo-America. 
Derivation. The specific name, monosperma, is derived from the Greek monos, one, and sperma, a seed, naving reference to 
the growing of only one seed in each pod. The French, German, and Italian names have the same signification. It is called 
Water Locust, on account of its growing only in large swamps that border rivers, where the soil is constantly wet, and often 
inundated at the season of the rising of the waters. 
Engravings. 
below. 
Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 80 ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., figure 364 ; and the figures 
Specific Characters. Spines slender, not rarely trifid, few. 
tish, roundish, 1-seeded. De Candolle. Prodromus. 
Leaflets ovate-oblong, acute. Legumes flat- 
Description. 
i^2@|!HE Gleditschia mo- 
*a 'i? cl nosperma, in its nat- 
3? LI IS ura -l habitat, attains 
!\X/i| a height of sixty or 
eighty feet, with a trunk from one to two feet in 
diameter. In some respects it closely resem- 
bles the preceding species. The bark, though 
smooth when the tree is young, cracks and 
scales off when it becomes old. The branches' 
are armed with thorns, and are less numerous, 
and somewhat smaller than those of the Gle- 
ditschia triacanthos ; and the leaves differ from 
it in being more diminutive in all their pro- 
portions. The flowers, which open in June and July, are inconspicuous, of a 
greenish colour, and destitute of odour. They are succeeded by flat, roundish 
pods, of a reddish colour, about an inch in diameter, united in bunches of three, 
each of which contains a single, naked seed. The seeds usually come to maturity, 
in the United States, early in September. 
Geography, History, fyc. The Gleditschia monosperma, along the sea-board, 
is found indigenous to South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida, Louisiana, and 
Texas ; and west of the Alleghanies, it is found in Illinois. It grows only in 
large swamps that border the rivers, where the soil is rich and moist, or is occa- 
sionally overflowed at the season of the rising waters. In such soils it is found 
growing among the Taxodium distichum, Nyssa grandidentata, Acer rubrum, 
Q.uercus lyrata, Planera ulmifolia, Juglans cathartica, and other trees, requiring 
a deep, rich, moist soil. 
This species was introduced into Britain, in 1723, by Mark Catesby, and 
treated in all respects like the Gleditschia triacanthos, of which it was considered, 
until within a few years, only a variety 
