H0NE1 LOCUST 



Gleditsia triaeanthot I.. 



I lit- Senna Family 



( \l b \I.IM\I \. I \! 



Habit and Babitat: A tree, 30-50 feet tall, with a trunk diametei 

 L5-24 inches, dividing at a height of 6-16 feet above the ground into 

 large, apright branches which divide many times into long, 

 slender, ascending and horizontal branchleta and zigzag twigs to form 

 a widely spreading, roundish crown; trunk and main branches armed 

 with stout, rigid, maroon, simple or branched Bpines, 1-8 inches long. 

 Prefers deep rich soils hut grows well in a wide variety ot soil and 

 climatic conditions, from the deep rich woodlands along the Missouri 

 river to the dry upland soils of centra] Nebraska. 



Leaves and Buds: The leaves are alternate once or twice pinnately 

 compound, G-10 inches long; leaflets 16-18 or even more -.-l 1 - inches 

 long, J4-V4 nKn broad, oblong, slightly and distinctly toothed, thin, 

 shiny, dark green above, pale and dull beneath; petioles and midribs 

 more or loss hairy. The buds are very tiny, three or more superposed. 

 smooth and brown, often almost covered by the bark. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced late in May or in June. 

 • t the leaves are out, inconspicuous, greenish, imperfect; staminate 

 in short, many-flowered clusters; pistillate in slender, few-flowered 

 cluster.-, on shoots of the previous year; calyx bell-shaped, hairy. .'!-•>- 

 lobed; petai> . greenish; stamens 3-10; ovary 1-celled, hairy. The 

 fruits which ripen in late summer, are pendulous, flat, more or less 

 spirally twisted, dark reddish-brown pods, 6-12 inches long and about 

 1 inch wide, short -stalked, sometimes in groups of two or more, often 

 single; seeds <>-12, oval, fiattish, olive colored, exceedingly hard. The ripe 

 pods usually fall in late autumn or during- the winter. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: The bark on the twigs is thin, smooth ami 

 shiny, reddish or grayish-brown, becoming thick and very dark reddish- 

 brown or blackish on the main trunk, and fissured by the formation of 

 long, narrow, low. scaly ridges, often quite smooth even on old tn 

 The twigs are usually strikingly zigzag. Wood very heavy, hard. 

 lined, red-brown, sapwood pale yellowish or greenish, 

 durable in contact with the soil. 



Distribution in the State: The honey locust is common in the forests 

 of the .Missouri river and its tributaries in southeastern Nebraska from 

 whence it has moved up that river to the Niobrara and along that river 

 to Cherry county. It is also found in the Republican river valley as far 



west as Harlan county. Map 41. 



Remarks: This tree grows rapidly, is a long-lived tree and is I 



markably free from damaging posts. It is easily transplanted and quite 



.dily adapts itself to a wide variation in environmental conditions. 



eaaionally one finds a specimen which is quite free from the 1- 



stiff thorns and such b -client for street or lawn planting. 



Honey locust is one of the hard rn trees which be bed 



bra ska from the forest-- <'f N- • Y ik. Michigan and Indiana. It is 

 one of the most successful trees for planting in central and western 



br: nd in fact in almost all parts <-f the relatively arid Great Plains. 



The value of the wood . and poles should stimulate a wider util- 



tion of this valuable spoce 



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