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Project Noah Nature School
Gleditsia triacanthos
A large tree with a trunk diameter of 30" and a height of 80 feet or more. The trunk, branches, and twigs have strong, sharp, brown thorns, either straight or branched, which form on the one-year-old wood and remain for many years. Leaves are alternate, with two kinds of leaves: most are once-compound, 5" to 10" long, with 15 to 30 oval leaflets; on vigorous shoots the leaves can be double-compound, consisting of 4 to 7 pairs of pinnae, each 6" to 8" long, and either alternate or opposite on the rachis. Flowers are borne in spring after the leaves in a dense greenish spike, 2" to 5" long, in the leaf axils. Fruit is a dark brown pod, 10" to 18" long and 1" to 1.5" wide, flat and often twisted, containing a yellow, sweetish pulp and dark brown seeds. Bark is dark gray to black, smooth, but developing shallow fissures separating broad plates, sometimes curled at the edges.
Riparian woods
Spotted on Oct 16, 2012
Submitted on Oct 22, 2012
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