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Black Locust

Robinia pseudoacacia

Summary 5

Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized deciduous tree native to the southeastern United States, but it has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas. Another common name is false acacia, a literal translation of the specific name (pseudo meaning fake or false and acacia referring to the tropical Acacia genus.

Black locust is a shade-intolerant specie and therefore is typical of young woodlands and disturbed areas where sunlight is plentiful and the soil is dry. It also often spreads by underground shoots or suckers. Young trees are often spiny, but mature trees often lack spines. In the early summer black locust flowers; the flowers are large and appear in large, intensely fragrant clusters reminiscent of orange blossoms. The leaflets fold together in wet weather and at night.

In the Reservation, the popular Locust Grove parking lot and picnic area are named for the grove of black locusts found there.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Eric Koberle, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Eric Koberle
  2. (c) Douglas Goldman, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Douglas Goldman
  3. (c) Георгий Виноградов (Georgy Vinogradov), some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Георгий Виноградов (Georgy Vinogradov)
  4. (c) dctilton, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  5. Adapted by Tom Pollard from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinia_pseudoacacia

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