ILvlS-DBOOK OF TeEES OF TTIE XoETIIEE^t StaTES AXE) CaX. 



?so 



The Honey Locu«t attains tlie height of from 

 7.3 to t4U It. w (O 11 ui'ow iii,u ill tlie forost', an^t 

 ■^vhen isolated i]eveio[)s a ln'oad rounded or 

 lofty Hat-topped head witlv drooping lateral 

 branches and of very cdiaracteristie aspect. Its 

 trunk, commonly i or 3 ft. in diameter, excep- 

 tionally 5 or ti ft., is vested in a dark gra}' 

 bark with closely appressed firm scales. It 

 usually bears a rigid sharp 1-3-pointed glossy 

 purple-bro«n thorn above the axil of each leaf, 

 and the trunk and bases of the large branches 

 often bristle with very formidable branching 

 thorns, but trees are occasionally met with in 

 which the thorns are nearly or entirely absent. 

 It inhabits chiefly moist bottom-lands in com- 

 pany vith various Oaks and Hickories, the 

 Black Walnut, Ilackberry, Buckeye, etc., and 

 although growing naturally only \\est of the 

 Alleghanies and in the Jlississippi valley has 

 become widely naturalized outside of its origi- 

 nal range. It is extensively planted for orna- 

 mental purposes, hedges, etc. From its incon- 

 spicuous flowers the bees gather mucli lioney. 



Its wood is heavy, a cu, ft, "vvhen absolutely 



dry weighing 42 lbs., strong and very durable 



and is used for railway-ties, posts and in the 



manufacture of agricultural implements, = 



Leaves 7-10 in. lono: w-ith 7-li"i pairs of leaticts 

 or 4-8 pairs of ])inn;i' witil pul")escent petioles and 

 rachises, the leaflets short-stalked, oblong-lance- 

 olate, inequilateral at base, olituse or rounded at 

 each end, crenulate. lustrous dark green alcove, 

 paler and often pubescent on the midribs beneath. 

 Flowers (.Tune) from a:^ils of the leaves of the 

 previous season, green and rich in honey, the 

 starainate in dense and sometimes clustered race- 

 mes, the pistillate in few^-flowered and usually 

 solitary racemes. Fruit pods, linear, 10-],S in. 

 Ions, shinincr dark lin.wn and usually contorti^d 

 and twisted in slnnt racemes and containio'j- 

 numerous hard oval comiiressed seeds separated by 

 a sweetish succulent pulp.- 



1. Sometimes spelled Gledttscliia. 



2, A, TF,, II, 28. 



For 



p. 4 11 





