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Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: honey locust
Type: Tree
Family: Fabaceae
Zone: 3 to 8
Native Range: Central and eastern North America
Height: 60 to 80 feet
Spread: 60 to 80 feet
Bloom Time: May to June
Bloom Color: Yellow
Bloom Description: Greenish-yellow
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Flowers: Showy Flowers
Fruit: Showy Fruit
Other: Has Thorns
Tolerates: Clay Soil, Drought, Air Pollution, Black Walnuts, Deer
Uses: Street Tree
Culture
Best grown in organically rich, moist, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerant of a wide range of soils. Also tolerant of wind, high summer heat, drought and saline conditions.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Honey locust is native from Pennsylvania to Iowa south to Georgia and Texas. In Missouri, it commonly occurs in moist soils of low woodland areas in valleys and along streams, and in drier soils of upland slopes and pastures throughout the state (Steyermark). It typically grows 60-80’ (less frequently to 120’) tall with a rounded spreading crown. Trunk and branches have stout thorns (to 3” long) that are solitary or three-branched. Pinnate to bipinnate yellow green leaves with ovate leaflets (1/2” to 1 1/2” long). Pinnate leaves have 10-15 pairs of leaflets and bipinnate leaves have 4-7 pairs of pinnae. Feathery leaves cast a sun-dappled shade. Leaves turn yellow in fall, but sometime drop off early without providing any significant fall color display. Greenish yellow to greenish white flowers appear in racemes in late spring (May-June in St. Louis). Flowers are followed by long, twisted and flattened, dark purplish-brown seedpods (to 18” long) which mature in late summer and persist well into winter. Seedpods contain, in addition to seeds, a sweet gummy substance that gives honey locust its common name. Specific epithet comes from the Greek acantha (thorn) and tri (three) in reference to the three-branched thorns. Species plants are generally not sold in commerce. Thornless varieties and cultivars that produce few if any seedpods are the preferred plants (e.g., Gleditsia triacanthos f. inermis). Genus name honors Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch (1714-1786), medical doctor and one-time Director of the Berlin Botanical Garden.
Problems
Honey locust is susceptible to a large number of potential disease problems, including leaf spot, canker, witches’ broom, powdery mildew and rust. Borers and webworms are common insect problems in some areas. Leaflets are too small to rake, which is good, but seed pods are unattractive on the tree and messy when they fall. Thorns on species plants can be just plain nasty.
Garden Uses
The species is not recommended for landscape usage due to its numerous thorns. Thornless/seedless varieties and cultivars are recommended for lawns and sometimes as street trees.