Water Locust

Asacara aquatica (Marsh.) Raf. Sylva Tell. 121. 1838
Gleditsia ineniiis Mill. Card. Diet. ed. 8, no. 2. 1768. Not L. 1759.
Gleditsia aquatica Marsh. Arbust. .'m. 54. 1785.
Gleditsia carolinetisis Lam. Encyc. 2: 465. 1786.
Gleditsia monosperma Walt. Fl. Car. 254. 1788.
Gleditsia triacantlios aquatica Castiglioni, Viag. Stati Unit 2: 249. 1790.
Gleditsia Iriacantha Gaertn. Fruct. 2: 311. 1791.
Caesalpiyioides tnonospermitm Kuntze. Rev. Gen. 167. 1891.
A tree, up to 20 m. high, with a trunk 6-8 dm. in diameter. Thorns sometimes more than 1 dm. long; leaves once pinnate or when twice pinnate with 3 or 4 pairs of pinnae; leaflets ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 2-5 cm. long, obtuse or acutish, glabrous, crenate; racemes drooping, elongated, sometimes 2 dm. long; calx-lol es and petals 2 mm. long: legume glabrous, 2-4 cm. long, tapering into an elongated stipe.
Type locality: Carolina.
Distribution: Southern Indiana to Missouri. Florida and Texas.

Perennial, Trees, Woody throughout, Stems erect or ascending, Stems greater than 2 m tall, Trunk or stems armed with thorns, spines or prickles, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Leaves alternate, Leaves clustered on spurs or fasicles, Leaves petiolate, Stipules inconspicuous, absent, or caducous, Leaves compound, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaves even pinnate, Leaves bipinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets dentate or denticulate, Leaflets alternate or subopposite, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescences spikes or spike-like, Inflorescence ament-like, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers actinomorphic or somewhat irregular, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx glabrous, Petals separate, Petals white, Petals greenish yellow, Imperfect flowers present, dioecious or polygamodioecious, Fertile stamens 6-8, Stamens completely free, separate, Stamens long exserted, Filaments hairy, villous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit stipitate, Fruit unilocular, Fruit tardily or weakly dehiscent, Fruit indehiscent, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit or valves persistent on stem, Fruit coriaceous or becoming woody, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit 2-seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.

Gleditsia aquatica, commonly called water locust or swamp locust after its habitat of river swamps and slough margins, is a tree native to the Southeastern United States and adjacent regions.