The tree is a honey locust. When it was younger there were probably a lot more like that, and if you look at the newer branches you will see lots of spikes.
Honey Locust, in my opinion these trees have been bred wrong. Domesticated trees are bred to be less spiky, although I think the huge spike clusters that wild ones have are their coolest quality. The spikes are more aesthetically appealing than their flowers or leaves.
lmcbmc
Whatever you do, don’t step on one. They can go right thru a soft soled shoe, and even flatten a tire. They are wicked, and they hurt like hell.
thd9
Locust honey is delicious.
Cornflake294
As others have said, honey locust. The theory is that they developed these spikes (hundreds of thousands of years ago) as a deterrent to being fed on by megafauna like mammoth, mastodon and wooly rhino.
SenorBigMcLargeHuge
It’s to keep your neighborhood mastodon free. I lived in a neighborhood full of thorny honey locusts and never saw a single mastodon.
the thorn free variety is the mutant that is popular for landscaping.
s_mash3rr
Honey locust, gleditsia triacanthos
Pjonesnm
Ah, you have a Mr. Mcstabby in your neighborhood. It keeps the dinosaurs from nibbling
Gemraticus
The local butcher birds (aka shrikes) surely do appreciate these trees!
AlternativeResort477
That tree is most likely a honey locust. Cultivated varieties have no thorns.
try the seed pods, the native Gleditsia triacanthos has a higher concentration of sugar in the pulp of its seed pods compared to their cultivated cousins (var. inermis)
14 Comments
The tree is a honey locust. When it was younger there were probably a lot more like that, and if you look at the newer branches you will see lots of spikes.
Another pic more from the side
https://preview.redd.it/rrylq4sjev8g1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e5f22275304d733907ed9857d7d41e14b17990c
Honey Locust, in my opinion these trees have been bred wrong. Domesticated trees are bred to be less spiky, although I think the huge spike clusters that wild ones have are their coolest quality. The spikes are more aesthetically appealing than their flowers or leaves.
Whatever you do, don’t step on one. They can go right thru a soft soled shoe, and even flatten a tire. They are wicked, and they hurt like hell.
Locust honey is delicious.
As others have said, honey locust. The theory is that they developed these spikes (hundreds of thousands of years ago) as a deterrent to being fed on by megafauna like mammoth, mastodon and wooly rhino.
It’s to keep your neighborhood mastodon free. I lived in a neighborhood full of thorny honey locusts and never saw a single mastodon.
the thorn free variety is the mutant that is popular for landscaping.
Honey locust, gleditsia triacanthos
Ah, you have a Mr. Mcstabby in your neighborhood. It keeps the dinosaurs from nibbling
The local butcher birds (aka shrikes) surely do appreciate these trees!
That tree is most likely a honey locust. Cultivated varieties have no thorns.
[Honey locust](https://youtube.com/shorts/UCSJPAYmlDU?si=vIK15juiW5COl6H2)
That’s his Jesus piece
try the seed pods, the native Gleditsia triacanthos has a higher concentration of sugar in the pulp of its seed pods compared to their cultivated cousins (var. inermis)