FOREST TREES. 93 
GLEDITSCHIA—-HONEY LOCUST. 
Natural Order, Leguminose. 
Flowers, polygamous; calyx, of three to five spread- 
ing sepals, united at the base; petals, as many as the 
sepals and equaling them, the two lower sometimes 
united; stamens, as many, distinct, inserted with the 
petals on the base of the calyx; pod, flat, many- 
seeded. 
1. Gleditschia triacanthos—Honey Locust, Three- 
thorned Acacia. 
Thorns, stout, often triple or compound, frequently 
wanting; leaflets, lanceolate-oblong, somewhat ser- 
rate; pods, linear, elongated, often twisted. 
The Honey Locust appears to be much more 
common west of the Alleghanies than in the Atlantic 
States. In the State of Illinois it is found principally 
upon the river bottoms, but frequently occurs on 
rich uplands. It sometimes towers to the height of 
eighty or one hundred feet, with a diameter of three 
or four feet. The general appearance of the tree is 
distinct from all others, and never fails to attract 
notice. The leaves are pinnate; the leaflets smald 
and of a deep green-hue. It has been much plantet, 
for ornament, and is quite graceful, but its foliage is 
too thin to afford much shade. The pods, when ripe, 
contain a sweet pulp, and are eaten by domestic 
animals, but seem scarcely so well suited to the human 
stomach as to justify the conclusion of the Hardshell 
preacher, that they constituted the food of John-the- 
Baptist. 
