Honey Locust Tree

Honey Locust Tree - Gleditsia Triacanthos

The American honey locust, or Gleditsia triacanthos, is a versatile native tree known equally for its sharp sense of style and its sweeter side. Its formidable thorns offer protection, while delicate, fern-like foliage softens its appearance and large, sweet-pulped seed pods attract a variety of wildlife. Honey locust trees are certainly tough, yet also offer up their modest beauty. They do well in urban soils, polluted sites, and a variety of soil textures including clay soils.

Growth, Resistance and Longevity

 The trees are pest-resistant and known to live over 100 years, growing to around 80’ tall at a rate of about 2’ per year in good conditions. The common name of honey locust is not due to bees, although pollinators are attracted to the flowers. The “honey” reference comes from the sweet, honey-flavored pulp surrounding the seeds inside the tree’s seed pods. Indigenous peoples dried this pulp to use as a sweetener, and many wildlife species, including turkeys, raccoons, deer, squirrels, and other birds, use the pods as a tasty food source. 

Honey Locust Trees Offer Wildlife Value

Honey locusts are an excellent native tree to provide wildlife with both abundant food and shelter. Another benefit of the honey locust is its remarkably strong, durable wood, a quality that complements the tree’s overall toughness and resilience. If trees were given awards for having “grit,” you’d be hard-pressed to find a better contender than the honey locust. Honey locust trees have a rich history. Some ecologists believe their thorns may have evolved, in part, as protection from the massive prehistoric herbivores that once roamed North America. The honey locust has survived for thousands of years and remains an extremely hardy tree across a variety of growing conditions and climates. While not technically a living fossil, the honey locust may carry clues to a landscape that disappeared thousands of years ago.

 Erosion Control and Windbreak Coverage

Honey locust trees are excellent choices for windbreaks and erosion control on compromised sites. Their adaptability and wildlife value can also make them useful in woodland and habitat restoration projects in both rural and urban environments. Low maintenance and easy to care for, honey locusts offer wildlife benefits galore while serving as a fascinating conversation piece, a tree characterized by delicate foliage and sweet pods, yet armed with a decidedly thorny disposition.

Longevity and Hardiness of Robinia pseudoacacia 

Few native trees combine grit and grace quite like the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), pairing rugged resilience with cascades of intensely fragrant white flowers every spring. Black locusts are famous for their pendulous flower clusters covered with bees and other pollinators seeking abundant nectar, and the resulting black locust honey is prized for being among the most delicately sweet honeys of the season.