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  3. Honey Locust

Honey Locust

Gleditsia triacanthos

Other Names 10

Thorny Locust, Thorny Honeylocust, Honey Shucks, Thorn Tree

Blooming Season 10

May-June

Description 10

(1) The honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos, can reach a height of 20–30 m (66–98 ft). They exhibit fast growth, but live a medium-long life span of about 120 years. The leaves are pinnately compound on older trees but bipinnately compound on vigorous young trees. The leaflets are 1.5–2.5 cm (0.6–1 in) (smaller on bipinnate leaves) and bright green. They turn yellow in the autumn. Honey locusts leaf out relatively late in spring, but generally slightly earlier than the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia). The strongly scented cream-colored flowers appear in late spring, in clusters emerging from the base of the leaf axils. The fruit of the honey locust is a flat legume (pod) that matures in early autumn. The pods are generally between 15–20 cm (6–8 in). The seeds are dispersed by grazing herbivores such as cattle and horses, which eat the pod pulp and excrete the seeds in droppings; the animal's digestive system assists in breaking down the hard seed coat, making germination easier. In addition, the seeds are released in the host's manure, providing fertilizer for them. Honey locust seed pods ripen in late spring and germinate rapidly when temperatures are warm enough. Honey locusts commonly have thorns 3–10 cm (1.2–3.9 in) long growing out of the branches, some reaching lengths over 20 cm (8 in); these may be single, or branched into several points, and commonly form dense clusters. The thorns are fairly soft and green when young, harden and turn red as they age, then fade to ash grey and turn brittle when mature. These thorns are thought to have evolved to protect the trees from browsing Pleistocene megafauna, which may also have been involved in seed dispersal, but the size and spacing of them is less useful in defending against smaller extant herbivores such as deer. Thornless forms (Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis) are occasionally found growing wild and are available as nursery plants. Hybridization of honey locust with water locust (G. aquatica) has been reported.
(4) The bark of the honey locust is initially, gray-brown to red-brown to bronze in color, and smooth with many horizontal lenticels (raised pores used for gas exchange) that later turn into long, narrow, curling plates. In addition, the honey locust's bark often displays clusters of large, branched thorns on its trunk. Its wood is strong, coarse grained and moderately durable, which is why it is a material commonly used fence posts, railroad ties, furniture, interior woodwork and fuelwood.
The twigs of the honey locust may be either stout or slender and they can prominently zig-zag. The color of these twigs are red-brown to light greenish-brown in color. The twigs and branches have numerous lenticels and they often feature branched thorns. Older twigs and branches can be found with single or three-branched or more thorns that can be between one and four inches long. The lateral buds found on the twigs are very small and sunken.
The honey locust has leaves that are compound (pinnately) or doubly compound (bipinnately) leaves that alternate. The pinnately compound leaves are 5 to 8 inches long with 15 to 30 leaflets. The bipinnately compound leaves have 4 to 7 minor leaflets which are 0.5 inches to 1.5 inches long. The shape of the leaves are ovate/elliptical. The leaves are a dark green color in the spring, but in the fall, the leaves of this deciduous tree become a golden yellow color.
The honey locust in polygamo-dioecious, which means that the species has unisexual flowers with male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on different trees, but also some perfect flowers (both male and female parts) on each tree. The flowers are small and they are displayed on 2 to 3 inch long narrow, hanging clusters. The flowers are greenish yellow in color, but they are not showy. Although the flowers are not showy, they are very fragrant. The flowers are pollinated by insects. The flowers tend to appear in the late spring and early summer. The male (staminate) flowers are found in elongated drooping clusters (about 2-3 inches long) on golden hairy branches coming out from the leaf forks. The female (pistillate) and bisexual flowers occur singly or in few-flowered clusters (3-4 inches long) on golden hairy, drooping branches in the leaf forks. As mentioned above, the flowers appear to be an inconspicuous, greenish or creamy-yellow color. The sepals of the flowers are about 3-4 mm long and the petals of the flowers are about 3-6 mm long. The male flowers have short stalks or no stalks and they have 5-7 hairy (pubescent) stamens. In contrast, the female and perfect flowers have longer stalks and have a hairy (pubescent) ovary. The ovary has a broad style and a two-lobed stigma on top of it.
The fruit of the honey locust is a compressed, flattened and leathery or slightly hairy pod. The color of these pods ranges from green to red- or purple-brown and from dark brown to black. The shape of these pods is pendulant, curved and twisted. The pods range in size from about 6-18 inches long and about 1-1.5 inches wide. The pods are thick-walled and they taper at both ends. The pods of the honey locust are often found in clusters of two or three.
The honey locust usually produces a large fruit crop only every 2-3 years with the southern trees often having larger crops than the northern trees. Once formed, these pods can remain on the tree from September to February. After the pods fall to the ground, they remain unopened and do not open themselves to release their seeds. Instead, the honey locust relies on various species of wildlife and livestock to eat the pods and spread their seeds. These animals can include horses, cattle, rabbits, foxes and crows. Each pod has about 6-20 seeds and a yellow, brown or light green, sugary, sweet pulp, which makes sense given that they rely on animals for dispersal. The seeds are about 1/3 inches long, hard, flat, oval-shaped, shiny and dark brown. The thick seed coat requires a pass through an animal's digestive system in order to become permeable and allow for seed germination.

Habitat 10

(2) Moist woods; bottomlands; stream banks; drier, upland sites. Found in Moist, deep, well-drained soil. Medium Loam, Clay Loam, and Clay.
(3) Honeylocust is usually only a minor component of natural forest stands. It is considered an accessory species in four SAF cover types: bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), willow oak (Q. phellos)-water oak (Q. nigra)-diamondleaf (laurel) oak (Q. laurifolia), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)-willow oak, and sugarberry (Celtis laevigata)-American elm (Ulmus americana).
(4) The honey locust tree is found in central North America, usually in moist soil near river beds and in open plain regions or in mixed forests. It is quite adaptable and can survive in a variety of conditions such as drier areas and suburban and urban environments provided it receives enough sunlight. For this reason, it is often used as an ornamental tree in parks and in urban areas. It fares less well in densely wooded areas as it is intolerant of shade.

Sources 10

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_locust
(2) https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=gltr
(3) https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/gletri/all.html
(4) https://naturewalk.yale.edu/trees/fabaceae/gleditsia-triacanthos/honey-locust-18

Ecological Benefit 10

(3) Honeylocust pods are eaten by cattle, goats, white-tailed deer, Virginia opossum, eastern gray squirrel, fox squirrel, rabbits, quail (including northern bobwhite), crows, and starlings. White-tailed deer frequently strip and eat the soft bark of young trees in winter; rabbits also consume honeylocust bark in winter. Livestock and white-tailed deer consume young vegetative growth. Honeylocust is a source of pollen and nectar for honey. In Virginia, honeylocust and other species were planted for mast production on the margins of plots cleared and revegetated for wildlife. Honeylocust is planted into currently operating pastures and hayfields to provide high-protein mast for livestock (a management system termed browse agroforestry). Cattle do not digest the seeds and thus do not derive full nutritional benefit from consuming whole pods, but ground honeylocust pods do provide a high-protein feed for cattle. Sheep do digest the seeds, and therefore obtain more of the available protein when consuming whole pods. The open canopy of honeylocust allows good growth of pasture grasses
(2) Host plant of Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus), Bicolored Honey Locust Moth (Sphingicampa bicolor), and the Bisected Honey Locust Moth (Sphingicampa bisecta)

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Ken Mattison, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/69421573@N08/50546866001/
  2. (c) Melissa McMasters, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/cricketsblog/18879073689/
  3. (c) Kirill Ignatyev, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.flickr.com/photos/bushman_k/26886041982/
  4. (c) tguan, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  5. (c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/15851550541/
  6. (c) Guillermo Debandi, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Guillermo Debandi
  7. (c) yakfur, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by yakfur
  8. (c) Dan Nydick, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Dan Nydick
  9. Wouter Hagens, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gleditsia_sunburst_D.jpg
  10. (c) Justin Foucart, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

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