Fifty Common Trees of New York 



53 



43. BLACK LOCUST 



Yellow Locust, White Locust 



(Bobinia pseudoacacia Linnaeus) 



Black locust was not originally a native of the State, but was a great 

 favorite with early settlers as a dooryard tree from where it has escaped 

 to form dense thickets along the roadside in many sections of the State. 

 In favorable locations, its spread by 

 means of root suckers is very rapid. It 

 grows with exceptional rapidity on well- 

 drained fertile soils, and in such loca- 

 tions seems better able to survive attacks 

 of the locust borer which in some sections 

 has rendered the tree worthless. The 

 wood is very strong, heavy, hard, and ex- 

 tremely durable in contact with the soil. 

 As a post wood it has no equals and is 

 also used for insulator pins on pole lines 

 and for ties and fuel wood. 



Barh — rough even on young trunks, 

 yellowish brown in color, becoming 

 deeply furrowed into distinct, thick, 

 rounded ridges, which are not scaly. 



Twigs — slender, brittle, reddish to 

 greenish brown in color; generally bear- 

 ing short stiff spines from ^4 to % inch 

 long, in pairs at base of leaves (nodes). 



Winter buds — terminal bud absent ; 

 lateral buds very small, in a cavity below 

 leaf scars, rusty brown in color, covered with down. 



Leaves — alternate, compound, from 8 to 14 inches long, with from 7 to 

 19 entire leaflets arranged along a central stem; leaflets usually odd in 

 number, short-stalked, oval in shape, from l 1 /^ to 2 inches long. 



Fruit — a pod, fiat, smooth, brown in color, from 2 to 4 inches long, 

 containing from 4 to 8 small brown or black seeds, ripening in Septem- 

 ber. Pods— hang on into the winter; finally torn off by the wind in 

 halves with seeds attached, the dried pod acting as a sail to carry the 

 seed considerable distances. 



BLACK LOCUST 

 Leaf and fruit, one-third nat- 

 ural size ; twig, two-thirds natural 

 size 



