LEGUMINOSAE 

 Honey Locust. Three-thorned Acacia 



Gleditsia triacanthos L. 



HABIT. A tree usually 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diam- 

 eter of 2-3 feet; dividing near the ground into several large, 

 upright branches which divide again into long, slender, horizontal 

 branchlets ; both trunk and large branches armed with stout, 

 rigid, simple or branched spines. 



LEAVES. Alternate, pinnately or bipinnately compound, 

 7-12 inches long. Leaflets 18 or more, ?4-l^2 inches long, one- 

 third as broad; lanceolate-oblong; remotely crenulate-serrate ; 

 thin; lustrous, dark green above, dull yellow-green beneath. 

 Petioles and rachises pubescent. 



FLOWERS. May-June, when the leaves are nearly full 

 grown ; polygamo-dioecious ; the staminate in short, many- 

 flowered, pubescent racemes ; the pistillate in slender, few- 

 flowered racemes; on shoots of the preceding season; calyx 

 campanulate, hairy, 3-5-lobed; petals 3-5, greenish; stamens 3-10; 

 ovary i-celled, woolly. 



FRUIT. Autumn, falling in early winter; flat, pendent, 

 twisted, brown legumes, 12-18 inches long, short-stalked in short 

 racemes; seeds 12-14, oval, flattened. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud absent; lateral buds min- 

 ute, 3 or more superposed, glabrous, brownish. 



BARK. Twigs lustrous, red-brown, becoming gray-brown; 

 thick on the trunk, iron-gray to blackish and deeply fissured into 

 long, narrow ridges roughened by small scales. 



WOOD. Hard, strong, coarse-grained, durable in contact 

 with the ground, red-brown, with thin, pale sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. Indigenous to the extreme southern por- 

 tion of the state, but is planted as far north as Bay City. 



HABITAT. Prefers deep, rich loam, but grows on a 

 variety of soils. 



NOTES. Grows rapidly and is long-lived and free from 

 disease. Easily transplanted. The leaves appear late in spring 

 and fall early in autumn. The stiff spines and long pods which 

 litter the ground make the tree unsuitable for street or orna- 

 mental use. 



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