Robinia

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

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Read about Robinia in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Robinia (after Jean and Vespasien Robin, herbalists to the king of France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries). Leguminosae. Locust. Ornamental woody plants grown chiefly for their handsome white, pink, or purple flowers and the graceful foliage. Deciduous trees or shrubs: branches without terminal bud, often with stipular spines: lvs. alternate, stipulate, odd-pinnate, with stalked entire stipellate lfts.: fls. slender-pedicelled, in axillary racemes; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, slightly 2-lipped; corolla papilionaceous, with short-unguiculate petals, standard large, rounded, turned back, scarcely longer than wings and keel; 9 stamens connate, 1 free or partly free: pod oblong to linear, flat, several-seeded, dehiscent.—About 15 species in N. and Cent. Amer. The locusts are all handsome shrubs and trees with bright green and graceful pinnate foliage and showy white, pink, or purple papilionaceous flowers in usually pendulous or nodding racemes followed by pods attractive in some species by the dense covering of purple hairs. R. Pseudacacia and R. viscosa are hardy as far north as Ontario, and most other cultivated species as far north as Massachusetts. They are not particular as to the soil and they do well even in poor sandy soil and dry locations. They stand transplanting well and grow rapidly while young. Some species, particularly R. hispida, spread by suckers and may for this reason become a nuisance in lawns and mixed groups. R. Pseudacacia, on account of its heat- and drought-resisting qualities, together with its ornamental merits, has become a favorite street tree for cities, particularly in Europe; in this country it is now not so much planted, as it is liable to the attacks of the borer and therefore short-lived; it stands severe pruning well. Propagation is by seeds sown in spring and germinating readily; they may also be increased by suckers and some, particularly R. hispida, grow readily from root-cuttings. Varieties are usually grafted, either on young seedling stock in the house or outdoors in spring or on pieces of root in the greenhouse; some dwarf forms, as R. Pseudacaia, var. Rehderi are propagated by division, and other varieties, particularly var. Bessoniana, by cuttings of mature wood in fall; some varieties, as var. Decaisneana and var. monophylla, may be raised from seed, as a large percentage comes true. Index ambigua, 11. Elliottii, 4. neo-mexicana, 7. amorphifolia,1. fastigiata, 1. pendula, 1. aurea, 1. glutinosa, 10. Pseudacacia, 1, 11. bella-rosea, 11. Hartwigii, 9. purpurea, 1. Bessoniana, 1. hispida, 4, 5, 6. pyramidalis, 1. Boyntonii, 2. Holdtii, 8. Rehderi, 1. britzensis, 8. inermis, 1.5. rosea, 4, 5. bullata, 1. intermedia, 11. semperflorens, 1. coloradensis, 8. Kelseyi, 3. stricta, 1. crispa, 1. macrophylla, 5. tortuosa, 1. Decaisneana, 1. mimosaefolia, 1. Ulriciana, 1. dissecta, 1. monophylla, 1. umbraculifera, 1. dubia, 11. nana, 6. viscosa, 10, 11. R. Rusbyi. Wooton & Standley. Nearly glabrous prickly shrub with oval or broadly oblong lfts. pubescent beneath, many-fld. racemes with the pedicels glandular-pubescent, and with smooth pods, from New Mex.; this and the 6 or 7 Mexican species are not in cult. Alfred Rehder. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Robinia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Robinia QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)