Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) Gardening
Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) is a pod-bearing, medium-sized, deciduous shade tree in the family Fabaceae, native to eastern North America. The name honey locust is derived from the sweet taste of the legume pulp. It is also known as Sweet-locust or Thorny locust.
Honey locust, 20-30 m tall with a spread of 9-15 m, is a fast-growing tree and have a short life span of 120-150 years. It begins bearing fruit at about 10 years of age, with the peak production happens between 25-75 years, and continue bearing fruit up to 100 years old. The tree has short trunk, and the ornamental foliage is bright green, lacy, medium to fine texture. Leaflets are small, 1.5-2.5 cm long, and turn yellow to yellow-green in autumn. Honey locust tree has long, sharp thorns, 3-10 cm long, growing out of the branches, with some reaching 20 cm long. The thorns may be single or branched into several points and form a dense cluster. Young thorns are green and soft, harden and turn to red as the tree age, then fade to ash gray and brittle when mature.
In late spring, fragrant, cream-colored flowers are produced in clusters and emerged from the base of the leaf axils. The fruit is a flat, twisted pod, 15-30 cm long, that matures in early autumn. The pod, initially green, will dry and mature to brown or maroon color, and begin falling and dissemination often continues into late winter. The pod is surrounded in a tough, strap-like, leathery skin that adheres strongly to the edible pulp within. The pulp, which is bright green in unripe pods, is very sweet, crisp, and succulent. Grazing herbivores, such as horses and cattle, eat the pod pulp and excrete the dark-brown tannin-rich seeds in their droppings. Germination of the seeds is made easier through the breaking down of the hard coat by the animal's digestive system.
Honey locust adapts to a wide variety of soils, including alkaline soils. Many cultivated varieties are thornless, such as Gleditsia triacanthos inermis. They are popular ornamental plants. The fast growth, easy transplant, and tolerance of poor growing conditions make them valued trees in areas where shades are wanted quickly, or as wind-breaks and soil-erosion control in reclaimed or disturbed environments. Honey locust is usually grown as shade, street tree, massing, and ornamental plant. Lacy foliage gives a loose, open shades ideal for patios and shade loving plants. In autumn, the small leaflets fall between the grass and requiring little raking.
Propagation of honey locust can be done by grafting, budding, and cuttings from hardwood, softwood, and roots. Honey locust is resistant to Gypsy moths but susceptible to mimosa webworms, which can occasionally defoliating trees by August. Other pests are cankers, leaf hoppers, spider mites, scale insects, and leaf galls.
Honey locust tree
Author: Kevmin (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Leaves and seed pods of Honey locust
Author: Georg Slickers (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Generic)
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