Honeylocust is a native plant to the area and will be seen in the neighborhood both naturally and planted in parks or new developments. In nature they have thorns and large seed pods. The cultivated varieties sold in nurseries are male variaties and thornless. In my fraternity in college we would collect the seed pods and prank eachother by filling beds with the pods, so messy... This one you will need a TOTT to get to the container.
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Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)
Click on the images help you identify an Honey locust.
Form
Medium-sized tree, height 30' to 50' (taller under very favorable conditions), may reach a diameter of up to 16"; slender, spreading, somewhat drooping branches form a broad, open, rather flat-topped head that resembles a great green plume; trunk often divided near the ground.
Bark
Dark gray or brown on old trees; divided into thin, tight scales; strong, brown, straight, sharp, shiny thorns appear on one-year-old wood and remain for many years.
Leaf
Alternate on stem, 6" to 8" long, doubly compound (featherlike) with 18 to 28 small egg-shaped leaflets that have finely toothed margins; dark green and lustrous above and dull yellow-green below, turning yellow in the autumn.
Fruit (seed)
A pod, length 10" to 18"; flat dark brown or black when ripe, containing seeds and yellow whitish pulp; pod often becomes twisted as seeds ripen; seeds are hard and each is separated from the others by the pulp; pods are eaten by many animals.
Range
Occurs in scattered stands or as individual trees, especially in southern Minnesota in counties along the Root River Valley and Mississippi bottomlands; found in forested areas, but is more common in disturbed and barren areas beside roads and fields; shade intolerant, fast growing.
Wood uses
Reddish-brown, coarse-grained, hard, strong, not durable in contact with ground; however, it is used for fence posts, cross ties, and fuel; has been planted to some extent for windbreaks and hedges in southern Minnesota; not a hardy tree; sprouts readily from the root.