Part 28

Range: New York across Ohio to southern Illinois and southern Missouri, south to Louisiana, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: The Pumpkin Ash is the only ash in Illinois with velvety-hairy twigs and usually toothless leaves.

WATER LOCUST Gleditsia aquatica Marsh.

Growth Form: Small to medium tree to 60 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown widely but irregularly spreading; trunk short and stout.

Bark: Dark gray or dark brown, shallowly furrowed.

Twigs: Slender, gray or brown, smooth, usually with unbranched thorns; leaf scars alternate, more or less 3-lobed, with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Rounded, nearly hidden beneath the leaf scars, dark brown, smooth, up to ⅛ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, both singly and doubly pinnately compound on the same tree, with many leaflets; leaflets oblong to oblong-ovate, rounded or slightly pointed at the tip, rounded at the slightly asymmetrical base, toothless or minutely toothed along the edges, smooth except for some hairs along the veins, up to 1 inch long, about half as wide.

Flowers: Some flowers with both stamens and pistils, others with only one or the other, in elongated clusters up to 4 inches long, greenish, small, appearing in May and June.

Fruit: Short, pointed legumes up to 2 inches long and 1 inch broad, borne several in a drooping cluster, chestnut-brown, smooth, with 1 or 2 seeds and no pulp.

Wood: Hard, heavy, coarse-grained, reddish-brown.

Uses: Fence posts, coarse construction.

Habitat: Swampy woods.

Range: North Carolina across to southern Missouri, south to Texas, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: The short, 1- or 2-seeded legume without pulp differentiates this locust from the Honey Locust.

HONEY LOCUST Gleditsia triacanthos L.

Growth Form: Medium tree to 70 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 feet; crown broadly rounded, often with dropping outer branches; trunk straight, rather stout, usually with large, purple-brown, 3-parted thorns.

Bark: Dark brown, deeply furrowed and scaly at maturity.

Twigs: Slender, angular, reddish-brown, smooth, zigzag, with 3-parted or unbranched thorns; leaf scars alternate, more or less 3-lobed, with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Rounded, nearly hidden beneath the leaf scars, dark brown, smooth, up to ⅛ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, often doubly pinnately compound, with many leaflets; leaflets oblong to oblong-lanceolate, rounded or slightly pointed at the tip, rounded at the slightly asymmetrical base, minutely toothed along the edges, smooth except for some hairs along the veins, up to 1½ inches long, less than half as wide.

Flowers: Some flowers with both stamens and pistils, others with only one or the other, in elongated clusters up to 3 inches long, yellowish, small, appearing in May and June.

Fruit: Elongated legumes up to 1½ feet long and up to 2 inches wide, flat, often twisted or curved, purple-brown, containing several seeds embedded in a thick pulp.

Wood: Hard, strong, coarse-grained, reddish-brown.

Uses: Fence posts, coarse construction; a spineless form sometimes cultivated.

Habitat: Moist, wooded ravines, thickets, along roads.

Range: New York across to South Dakota, south to Texas, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: Honey Locust has more leaflets than any other kind of tree in Illinois. The large 3-parted spines and the long fruits are also distinctive.