Locust Question Not Black and not honey ???

[wvfknapper]

OK, maybe some of you Eastern boys can answer this question for me......We have a locust wood here in WV that grows mostly on reclaimed strip mining sites, it grows all gnarly and twisted most of the time, kinda Short trunked like Osage,  has a tight bark and is always a yellowish green color inside, no thorns on the bark,, does anyone know what type of locust this is? Is it some type of hybrid locust they plant.

I know it's not Black Locust, we have black locust at our camp and it grows tall and as straight as poplar,  and is a brown color with a thick bark, and splits very straight,, it's not honey locust because it has no thorns.

I will try and post a picture of it tomorrow.

wvflintknapper

[Ryano]

Probally still black locust. It grows pretty gnarly like Osage. Ive never seen a "straight" black locust.....

[wvfknapper]

Ryano,,, We have a camp in the eastern part of WV and the Black Locust there is as straight as any poplar or sycamore,,, and at first when I saw one I was confused as to what it was, then when summer rolled around and the leaves came out I seen that it was locust,, it grows in abundance there and grows really big and straight, but it is a higher elevation 2500 - 3000 ft,  so that might be the reason for the straightness and size.......I had cut some when I was making bows before and it split super clean and straight.

This just looks different but as you said it could still be black locust.

Thanks

wvflintknapper

[Hillbilly]

Yeah, black locust can grow pretty gnarly on poor soil sites. It's usually one of the first trees to colonize barren sites because being a legume, it's a nitrogen fixer and doesn't need nitrogen in the soil to grow. Does it have thorns on the twigs and locust-looking leaves?

[tom sawyer]

Maybe Kentucky coffee tree?  I believe its also a legume like locust and has the same type of pinnately compound leaves (wife says the coffee tree has bipinnately compound leaves).

Our black lociust grows very tall and straight around here, the honey locust is shorter snd more gnarly.  The honey has the monster thorns and a reddish wood.  The black locust has the greenish brown wood.  I think they've bred the honey locust to not have thorns on the trunk.  And I understand that in some areas the black locust has thorns on the trunk though not around here.  Here thee are only thorns on juvenile branches.

[Glenn R.]

Here in Illinois on our farm the black locust grow as straight as lodgepole pine. Dad and I are getting ready to drop a few--can you believe I've never made a bow from black locust and have lived out here 15 years. Will take pictures when we drop the trees this winter.  Glenn.

[wvfknapper]

Here is a couple pictures of the Locust in question,, Not like the black locust I know to be Black Locust,  as the bark is thinner and the trees are not as tall and clear,, might be due to poor soil ?? Low elevation ?

wvflintknapper

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[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

i have read of a honey locust that was used as an ornimental tree. it was some how changed so it wouldnt have thorns and then spead to  natural settings.i think disney world has some in frontier land.   but they wont let me cut any

[carpenter374]

kinda looks a little like what i've been told is an acacia tree.

[sonny]

pics look like a black locust that my mother's neighbor cut a year or so ago.......grew so crooked that I gave up looking for even billet wood from it.

[Coo-wah-chobee]

...Like hillbilly an Sonny said....bob

[wvfknapper]

Hillbilly

Yeah it's got thorns on the limbs and right now they have little buts on the limb tips ,, it is some type of locust,, just didn't know if it was something the coal companies came up with or what,,, they appear to be planted along with some other tree that gets a worm looking fruit and also a tiny pine cone looking thing on the same tree..... I suppose they plant them to hold the ground good and because of the poor high acid soil.

wvflintknapper

[Hillbilly]

Yeah, looks like regular black locust (Robinia psuedoacacia-we call it yaller locust here  ). It's the same way here, it grows tall and straight in good soil, and scrubby and gnarly in infertile, scalded spots. Seems like I spent half of my formative years either sawing and splitting it for firewood or splitting it into fence posts. The other trees would be something in the birch family-sounds like tag alder. They have wormy-looking catkin blooms in late winter and little cone-like seed pods.

have read of a honey locust that was used as an ornimental tree. it was some how changed so it wouldnt have thorns and then spead to  natural settings.i think disney world has some in frontier land.   but they wont let me cut any

There's a whole bunch of thornless honeylocust cultivars-Shademaster is one of the popular ones that's sold a lot in the nursery trade.

[richpierce]

When a stand of locust is dense they are straighter.  Lone trees are more crooked as they do not have to strain upward fro the light.

[wvfknapper]

Rich

Thats why the locust grow taller and straighter at out camp,, the mountains are high and the valleys are deep so the trees tend to grow straighter , plust the growing season is shorter.

wvflintknapper