Castle Howard Arboretum Trust - Furniture Makers Trees

Botanical name: Gleditsia triacanthos

Family: Leguminosae

Common Name: Honey Locust

Habitat and Distribution:

A native of central N. America, mainly a tree of the flood plains along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries, it ranges from Iowa south to East Texas, east to western Alabama and north to western Pennsylvania. It is planted as an ornamental tree in Europe, especially in the south.

Honey locust is a characteristic tree on the ridges and swells within overflow swamps. It is never particularly abundant, and usually grows singly or in small groups in association with other trees of the bottomlands.

It grows best full sun in deep, moist, fertile soils that are not too acidic. It is adaptable to a range of soils and tolerant of pollution and salt.

Description:

Honey locust is a medium size deciduous tree with dark grey-brown bark, zigzag twigs and pinnately compound leaves. The trunk and larger branches bristle with stout, rigid, branched thorns 18-50 cm (7-20 in) long, which grow from deep within the wood. Most of the cultivars have been selected from a thornless form which occurs sporadically in nature: Gleditsia triacanthos f. inermis.

Trees usually stand around 12-24 metres (40-80 ft) tall and have an open plumelike crown of fine-textured foliage that spreads 6-9 metres (20-30 ft) across. Really huge specimens in optimal habitat along the Ohio or Mississippi Rivers can be 42 metres (140 ft) tall and have trunks 1.8 metres (6 ft) in diameter.

The bright green, glossy leaves are compound and often doubly compound, 15-20 cm (6-8 in) long, and divided into a hundred or more 2.5 cm oval leaflets. In autumn the leaves turn a showy, clear yellow.

The fragrant greenish yellow flowers hang in small, inconspicuous clusters in early summer.

Honey locust is in the legume family, and its seeds are borne in pods. These are dark purplish brown, flat and corkscrew twisted, 25-45 cm (10-18 in) long and about 2.5 cm wide. The pods frequently persist on the tree after leaf fall into early winter. The seeds resemble oval bean seeds and are surrounded within the pods by a sweet and juicy pulp.

Location within the arboretum:

The tree is located in the Old Entrance Gate Area, towards the eastern boundary

Furniture Makers Trees at The Arboretum - Kew at Castle Howard

Timber:

The wood is very hard, very heavy, and resistant to decay.

Uses:

It is used occasionally for furniture, cabinet work and also sliced for decorative veneers but its scarcity limits widespread use.

Locally, because of its resistance to decay, the timber has been used for fence posts and railroad ties.

In North America Honey locusts, especially the thornless, infertile cultivars, are popular ornamental, shade, street and specimen trees. They are a good tree for use where you want to see beyond and through the canopy. Their salt tolerance makes them ideal street trees for cities that use de-icing salts.

The sweet smelling flowers are much favoured by bees and the juicy pulp between the seeds within the pods is relished by cattle and wildlife, in some areas cattle are turned loose into the swamps when the pods are ripe.