| Living Fence Posts |
| Location: Along path to
Molyet Village Apartments |
| This is a grove of Black Locust
trees, Robinia pseudoacacia,
members of the Pea and Bean Family, the Fabaceae. These trees
historically were distributed in the southeastern United States, on the
lower slopes of the Appalachian Mountains, including the southern
counties of Ohio, along the Ohio River. Now it has become
naturalized throughout the US and in some parts of Europe.
Farmers often planted these trees as a source of fence posts. Locusts are fast growing trees that reach 40 or 100 feet at maturity. Notice that the older trees in this grove have very thick, deeply furrowed bark with flat topped ridges. Younger stems have paired thorns. Leaves of Black Locust are pinnately compound. This means the leaf blade is divided into many smaller blades (leaflets) arranged along a central stalk. In Spring the white, pea-like blossoms hang from the stems in pendulous clusters. They are very fragrant, produce large amounts of nectar, and attract honeybee pollinators away from some of our more desirable native and cultivated plants. Fruits of the Black Locust are flattened pods 2 to 4 inches long which contain 4 to 8 seeds. The seeds of Black Locust rarely germinate so the trees spread mostly by root suckers. This method of asexual reproduction allows the trees to spread rapidly into disturbed field and degraded forest regions and their dense shade creates groves with little ground vegetation. The trees in a grove might all have originated from the root system of a single tree so that they are genetically identical. Biologists call these genetically identical offspring "clones." Locust leafminers (Odontota dorsalis) commonly attack leaves in the tops of Black Locust trees. They cause the leaves to turn brown and fall from the tree. This reduces the ability of the tree to make food by photosynthesis and weakens it. -- David Kramer
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