365 Urban Species. #162: Black Locust

[urbpan]

Location: Alley behind apartments near Ringer Playground, Allston.

When I first started to be actively concious of urban nature, I lived near Ringer Playground in Allston. Crossing through this wooded park on my way to work one day, I noticed the air was filled with a sweet smell, like jasmine. The tall trees along the path were heavy with pendulous bunches of white flowers which were emitting the delightful fragrance, so different from the usual scents of the densely populated neighborhood.

Black locust trees bloom impressively but briefly, the fragrance meant to attract the attention of bees. They are native to the Appalachians, but are now found in every contiguous state in the U.S. and have also been introduced to Europe. They are far outnumbered in most cities by their relative honey locust, which has similar foliage made of tiny leaflets. Both trees come in thorny and non-thorny varieties. Black locust grows quickly, and readily reproduces itself through root suckers(whole new trees growing from the root of the parent tree). Stands of such black locust trees spread into cleared areas, and prevent other forms of vegetation from flourishing. It is considered invasive, and is even on the Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List. As of January first of this year, "the sale, trade, purchase, and distribution" of black locust is prohibited.




The profuse white flowers and pinnate leaves of the black locust's crown.


Its thick, furrowed bark distinguishes black locust from the smoother-barked honey locust.

Comments

[turil.livejournal.com]

I'm still confused about which one I like to eat the flowers of.

We had a snack of the flowers a couple of weeks ago at school, when I discovered a tree on one of our walks. The kids liked them and were not at all weirded out by eating a tree flower. I'll see if I can tell if the one we ate from has smooth or rough bark.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Honeylocust flowers are greenish, and small. Black locust flowers are white and profuse! (I assume you're eating black locust flowers).

[momomom.livejournal.com]

Yes greenish and small but also VERY profuse. I have 2 thorness honey locusts ... about 30 years old, in my yard. They produce so much tree mess in May and the rare 2 foot long curly pea pod later on! Their flowers are also fragrant but not as strong as the black locusts. I have a little grove of thorned black locust in my back yard. They are really tall!

[turil.livejournal.com]

Oh, and thanks for letting me know that it's invasive. We grew a small tree from seed in school, and I was going to plant it somewhere. Though it died before I could find a good place to put it. Glad I didn't!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's good to know. Check out that "prohibited plant list" link--as of January, there are a ton of common plants that are outlaws!

[nutmeg.livejournal.com]

I'm loving that MA put a propagation ban on J. Barberry and Winged Euonymous.

That just floats my boat.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

ok, so, do the black and honey locusts have a relative with yellowish flowers?

[artemii.livejournal.com]

also, if you happen to be online right now, the host of greater boston on GBH just said that the third segment tonight (probably starting around 7:20) will be David Sibley talking about what birds to look for in boston right now. thought you guys might be interested. :)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I got this message too late. I wonder what he said? Basically everything that summers here is what you could look for.

what sibley said

[artemii.livejournal.com]

for future reference, he's a semi-regular guest on the show. the last time i saw him on (i don't watch it every day), he talked about the controversy about the ivory-billed woodpecker, and more specifically about how he is skeptical that the sightings were really of one.

last night's teaser was a bit misleading. in actuality he talked just a little bit about what birds you could see here (focusing mostly on the oriole; he talked about how they prefer elms and dutch elm disease has taken away their favorite nesting spots) and then answered a slew of questions from the show's host, including whether it's true that hummingbirds prefer red flowers, whether it's best to leave birdfeeders up year-round or only feed in winter, what to do if a bird nests in a place that doesn't seem very safe, what to do if you find a baby bird fallen out of the nest, and a conversation about the controversy in massachusetts over the piping plover, including how (according to sibley) massachusetts is now home to between 1/4 and 1/3 of the entire world's population of nesting piping plovers.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Several.

There's Texas honeylocust, paloiverde, and various acacias. I'm not sure what's planted in our area. I know I've seen a tree with compount pinnate leaves and yellow flowers, but I havent't examined it closely (or remembered where it was). If I see it again, I'll let you know

[artemii.livejournal.com]

i looked again this morning in anticipation of questions from you about it. :) the flowers are now more of an orangey color, but i'm not sure whether they got darker as they started to fade (they're looking pretty faded now) or whether i remembered them as a lighter color than they really are.

the leaves are typical pea/locust type leaves, looking just like i remembered them.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Well over a year later and I might have identified your legume tree with yellow flowers--pagoda tree or scholar tree.