180 TREES 



twigs are ruddy. The trees grow wild on the mountains of 

 the Carolinas and nowhere else. 



The Honey Locust 



Gleditsia triacanthos, Linn. 



The honey locust is a tall handsome flat-topped tree, with 

 stiff horizontal, often drooping branches, ending in slim 

 brown polished twigs, with three-branched thorns, stout 

 and very sharp, set a little distance above the leaf scar of 

 the previous season. Occasionally a thornless tree occurs. 



Inconspicuous greenish flowers, regular, bell-shaped, 

 appear in elongated clusters, the fertile and sterile clusters 

 distinct, but on the same tree. The leaves are almost full- 

 grown when the blossoms appear. Their feathery, fern- 

 like aspect is the tree's greatest charm in early June. 

 When the pods replace the flowers they attract attention 

 and admiration as their velvety surfaces change from pale 

 green to rose and they curve, as they lengthen, into all sorts 

 of graceful and fantastic forms. The sweet, gummy pulp 

 of the honey locust pods is considered edible by boys, who 

 brave the thorns to get them. As the autumn approaches, 

 the pulp turns bitter, and dries around the shiny black 

 seeds. The purple pods cling and rattle in the wind long 

 after the yellow leaves have fallen. One by one, they are 

 torn oflF, their S-curves tempting every vagrant breeze to 

 give them a lift. On the crusty surface of snowbanks and 

 icy ponds, they are whirled along, and finally lodge, to rot 

 and liberate the seeds. It takes much soaking to pre- 

 pare the adamantine seeds for sprouting. The planter 

 scalds his seed to hasten the orocess. Nature soaks, 



