honey locust

Also known as Thorny Locust, Thorny Honeylocust, Sweet Locust

Honey locusts produce long, dark brown seed pods filled with a sweet pulp once eaten by ancient North American megafauna like mastodons. Wild trees often sprout dense armor of branched, needle-sharp thorns up to twenty centimeters long directly from their trunks. Urban planners frequently select thornless cultivars to line city streets because of their exceptional tolerance for air pollution, road salt, and soil compaction.