Locust

a well known tree belonging to the legume or pea family. It grows to the height of eighty feet. It has thorny branches, delicate pinnate leaves, and dense, drooping clusters of white, heavily scented flowers, shaped like those of the pea. The flowers are succeeded by many-seeded pods. Young plants grow from seeds, as well as from underground suckers, soon forming dense thickets. The wood is heavy, hard, and very durable. It makes excellent fence posts and policemen's clubs. The common locust is known to the botanist as robinia. It is called also the black or yellow locust, and the false acacia. It grows throughout eastern North America. A related shrub from the Alleghanies bears pink flowers. It is cultivated for ornamental purposes. The clammy locust is a small tree with sticky branchlets and leaf-stalks. It grows in the same region. See Honey Locust