a tree by any other name...

[hova]

so I was out putzing in the yard, and theres a couple saplings that resemble locust. I have been looking for two days for anything that resembles a locust.

the trees in the yard have the exact leaves , but no thorns or pods anywhere on either of the 3 trees. I have seen theres thornless locust , but they say they aren't  common....

anyone know anything different? any advice ?

-hov

[TroutGuide]

Most likely sugar locust.  Black locust has the nasty thorns.  All will have pods but they may not be mature or fertile.  As far as bow wood goes I have no idea if they differ.

[Pat B]

If you can post pics we can probably figure out what you have.
  Black locust has roselike thorns on the smaller branches and honey locust(except the thornless type) has nasty looking multi-pointed thorns on the trunk.
  Locust(Robina pseudoacacia) has pinately compound leaves and honey locust(Gleditsia triacanthos) has bipinately compound leaves. The species name for honey locust, tricanthos, refers to the thorns on the trunk(tricanthos = 3 thorns)

[hova]

ill get a pic up shortly , but I can't find anything about sugar locust ...you sure you're not thinking of honey locust ?


I was just out there a minute ago looking at it and I'm leaning to thornless , cause there are zero thorns and no pods...it says online that the thornless rarely produces seed...

-hov

[hova]

ok , theres two trees im really curious about. the one that i think may be a thornless locust , and another , that i know ive seen the leaves in a description , but i cant find anything now , nor based on the fur-edged seeds...


heres the locust possibility...
 

 

 

 

 

see , no thorns or pods... i looked on both trees and i dont see any thorns or pods at all , anywhere , nor on the ground in the ivy are any seed remains...

heres the other one , i have no idea what it could be , but it has leaves right off the main branches , with the odd hazlenut like seed pods at the very top of it. i got a few pods and busted them up , and the seeds look like they are little furry flattened seeds....let me know what ya think...

 

 

 

it also had a couple small runners coming from a few feet away from the base of it , with the same leaves on the little mini tree looking thing...


thanks for the help!
-hov

[Pat B]

Looking at the leaves in the first pic and the bark in the 3rd pic I'd say the first one is locust(Robina pseudoacacia).
  The second one looks like a Rose-of-Sharon(aka Althea)It is a hibiscus(Hibiscus syriacus).

[hova]

i didnt know rose of sharon was a tree like that. that is exactly it though , the seeds are identical to google image results.


awesome for helpin out. you think the locust is a thornless? i had read that some of them put out more thorns than others , but neither of the ones in the yard have a thorn on them or a seed pod , thats why i just wasnt too sure. everything says thornless locust is very rare....


theres another one that looks like the locust , but the leaves are larger , longer , and pointed , and they have this odd puff at the end... its all red now that its autumn , but there are lots of them around here...


looks like ill be working myself into some locust!


thanks again pat!
-hov

[hova]

ok after some more googling , i dont see anyone making bows out of the rose-of-sharon... it seems like its realtively hard , and very elastic. anyone remember anyone making a bow out of it?


-hov

[hova]

ill get a pic up shortly , but I can't find anything about sugar locust ...you sure you're not thinking of honey locust ?


I was just out there a minute ago looking at it and I'm leaning to thornless , cause there are zero thorns and no pods...it says online that the thornless rarely produces seed...

-hov

[hova]

odd double post, please delete ...

[dnovo]

I'm not sure but I believe I heard that there are male and female locust trees and that one of them doesn't have the thorns. I would think that the ones with the thorns would probably  be female!!!

[hova]

that would correspond with my experience ....

[TroutGuide]

So I guess I swithed sugar for honey and reversed thornless black with the honey.  Dohh!! Sorry.

[hova]

yeah I think the thornless is what it is. I found a whole stand of them on an old lakeside that miight meet an early demise ...