OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Gleditsia triacanthos   FAMILY Fabaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Gleditsia triacanthos   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Gleditsia triacanthos

SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)

Gleditsia triacanthos

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-06-001:

Gleditsia triacanthos   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Gleditsia triacanthos

 

COMMON NAME:
Honey Locust


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Trees You Want to Know (Peattie, 1934); illustration by F.A. Michaux    dcp34_p41

        

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905)    mtna_i_640

        

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_gltr_001_lvd

        

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_gltr_009_lhd

        

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide    pnd_gltr_011_lvd

        

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm0401e_21

January    Greenville County    SC

Roadside

Fruit a brown legume 6-18" long containing a sticky sugar-rich pulp, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Roxanna Martin    rlm42911_3

April    Spartanburg County    SC

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_gleditsia_triacanthos

April        

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm0405v_17

May    Greenville County    SC

Roadside

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm130513_941

May    Spartanburg County    SC

Pistillate flowers in solitary racemes (fewer-fowered than staminate racemes), per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm130513_943

May    Spartanburg County    SC

Legumes just beginning to emerge.

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm190506_8150

May    Greenville County    SC

Swamp Rabbit Trail

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm210508_0212

May    Oconee County    SC

Ramsey Creek Preserve

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm210513_0264

May    Oconee County    SC

Boone's Creek Preserve

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm210513_0269

May    Oconee County    SC

Boone's Creek Preserve

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm210513_0273

May    Oconee County    SC

Boone's Creek Preserve

Young bark thin, dark, with prominent raised lenticels, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Roxanna Martin    rlm5210_091

May    Spartanburg County    SC

Staminate flowers numerous, in often fascicled racemes 5-10cm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Roxanna Martin    rlm5210_091b

May    Spartanburg County    SC

Flowers greenish-yellow, 1/4" long, clustered in compact racemes, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_g_triacanthos_8

May        MA

Arnold Arboretum

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_g_triacanthos_sunburs

May        MA

Arnold Arboretum

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm0406l_20

June    Pickens County    SC

Field

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm0406m_15

June    Greenville County    SC

Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    s100701_a

July    Greenville County    SC

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_g_triacanthos_4

September        

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    s081018_c

October    Greenville County    SC

Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve

Leaves either pinnate (18-28 leaflets) or bipinnate (8-14 pinnae), per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE bipinnately or tripinnately compound leaves of trees

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm0311h_25

November    Greenville County    SC

Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve

Strong thorns are frequently branched, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).

image of Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust

JK Marlow    jkm061111_028

November    Chester County    SC

Field

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Gleditsia triacanthos   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Gleditsia triacanthos   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Gleditsia triacanthos

SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Gleditsia triacanthos

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-06-001:
Gleditsia triacanthos   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Gleditsia triacanthos

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

614

Tree
Perennial

Habitat: woodlands, forests (generally bottomland), fencerows, often planted as a street tree, per Weakley's Flora

Native to parts of the Carolinas & Georgia

Common in Carolina Piedmont & SC Mountains (uncommon to rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Armed with formidable thorns, simple and/or branched

LEAVES:
Deciduous
Evenly 1- or 2-pinnately compound (often on the same plant)
Mostly alternate

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Greenish-yellow
3-5 sepals
3-5 petals
3-10 exserted stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual & unisexual

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Legume

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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