Ironically, both trees have black in their name, but their blossoms are white. Both trees feature what botanists refer to as, “pendulous racemes”, meaning elongated bunches of flowers that hang like so many floral grapes from the tree. And both trees are interesting in their own rite. So interesting, I may have to break this up into two blogs.
Let’s start with the Black Locust, for this native tree of the Southeast has really gotten around and many of you may have them in your neighborhoods, even, in the remote contingency that you are a reader, say, from Paris, or London. So many plants have headed our way from the Old World that it is a rare occasion when something heads the other way. But the early colonists were so taken with the durability of locust wood, that they shipped them back to England in 1636 and they spread from there. Many a European city features them in parks and along boulevards for this tree is tolerant of pollution. Think of something that can blossom in the London fog of yore.
The wood is exceedingly close-grained and resistant to rot. For that matter, it is considered the heaviest and hardest wood in all of North America. They made wonderful fence posts that could last 100 years, and in our local marshes you can still see the locust “staddles” that were placed on the salt marshes to prop up the drying salt hay back in the 1700’s. It’s so cool, because the salt marsh, which takes 100 years to raise one foot higher, is slowly swallowing these wooden pegs, but they are as tough looking, though shorter, as when they were first placed there. Think back to your history books. Remember all that fence splitting young Abe Lincoln was doing back in the day? Well, be doubly impressed for that was Black Locust he was splitting and that is no easy task.
And what a helpful tree it is. Being in the Pea family, well, a subgroup of the Pea family, (Faboidae), it is able to “fix” nitrogen in the soil, that is, take it from the atmosphere and transfer it to the soil for the other plants to use. Consequently it is one of those pioneer trees that will quickly grow in abandoned lots or fields and is here on the Cape because it doesn’t need rich soil to grow, it makes it’s own rich soil. However, it can’t tolerate shade, so if some upstart, fast growing tree shades it out, it is a goner.
From the flower comes a long bean pod which, although toxic to us, is enjoyed by a whole host of birds and mammals; bobwhites, turkeys, mourning doves, white tailed deer, cottontails and squirrels. All the regulars are regular customers of its seeds. It’s also the host plant for the Clouded Sulfur butterfly that is so common around here.
Finally, one cool thing you can check out for yourself, is that its pinnate leaves that have between 9-19 oval leaflets, fold up at night or when it is raining, as other members of the Pea family do. So, out you go, with a flashlight some night to see if this is true. Isn’t it amazing how much there is to know about a tree, and I didn’t tell you everything.
But clearly, I can’t launch off now about the Black Cherry, but the next free chance I have, I will. The lovely blossoms of the Black Locust only last about 10 days, and around here they have been out for the last 5 or so, so there was an urgency to blab away about this before they were all gone. Of course if you live anywhere south of Cape Cod they have already come and gone. And that is the trick, isn’t it? To try to find the time to write about all these blooming trees, wildflowers etc before they come and go. We shall never want for material shall we? And why? Because “ The world is so full of a number of things, I am sure we should all be as happy as kings!” RLS
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