Robinia pseudoacacia--Black Locust
Robinia pseudoacacia--Black Locust
Black locust is hard wooded, grows best in a sunny location and tolerates any soil that isn't swampy. This hardy tree is a legume and grows 30 to 40 feet tall and spreads 20 to 35 feet. The tree has a suckering root system and forms thickets if not controlled. Black locust transplants well, has a rapid growth rate and casts little shade. The fragrant, white flowers appear after the leaves and are borne in drooping racemes. The fruit is a brown pod and the bark is coarse and fissured.
The cultivars are: 'Bessoniana'--compact, spineless, can be used as a street tree; 'Coluteoides'--leaflets and flowers smaller, flowers freely; 'Decaisneana'--pink flowers; 'Dependens'--pendulous branches; 'Erecta'--very upright, each leaf with one or few leaflets; 'Fastigiata'-- columnar; 'Frisia'--leaves golden yellow; 'Inermis'--round headed, spineless, seldom flowers; 'Microphylla'--leaflets smaller, seldom flowers; 'Pendula'--weeping branches; 'Pyramidalis'--columnar with spineless branches; 'Semperflorens'--flowers intermittently throughout the summer; 'Tortuosa'--branches short, twisted; 'Umbraculifera'--spineless, head nearly rounded, rarely flowers; 'Unifolia'--('Monophylla')--leaflets enlarged but fewer.
