Field Maple and Box Elder
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The honey locust was named for the botanist Gottlieb Glcditsch and for its three-branched, 5 to 15-centimetre-long spines, which grow on the trunk and branches. It is a native of eastern North America, where it is found on moist, rich soils from Texas, northward to the 43rd parallel. It can tolerate drier situations, and is planted in tree belts in the prairies.
It generally grows to a height of no more than 7 to 15 metres. Only in riverinc woods or rich soil does it attain a height of more than 15 metres. The bark is furrowed into rhombic plates and the variety suberosa has corky wings on the twigs. The leaf stalk exudes a milky substance when broken off. The yellow-green flowers appear at the beginning of May, together with the leaves. The fruit, a wide double samara with parallel wings, ripens in September and October.
The honey locust is a light-demanding tree and stands up well to cutting-back. It is found in parks, and sometimes in the vicinity of country dwellings, where it is used as a thorny hedge. The wood, which is hard with reddish brown heartwood, is highly prized. The unripe pods are a favourite food of livestock and the dye they yield is used in colouring fabrics.
The Norway maple is more resistant to frost than the sycamore, and in Sweden is found as far north as latitude 64, its distribution extending deep into areas with inland climate all the way to the Urals. It is a tree of lower and submontane elevations, and in Europe it is found at altitudes up to about 700 metres, growing mostly on rocky locations alongside streams, or on rocky slopes.
It, too, is a large tree of fine proportions, reaching a height of 25 to 30 metres, but it never attains the diameter of the sycamore. It differs from the latter in having longitudinally fissured bark, reddish brown buds pressed close to the twig, and sharply- pointed, lobed leaves. When broken off, the stalk exudes a milky white sap. The bright yellow-green flowers appear in April together with the leaves, and are pollinated by insects. The double samaras have wide-spreading wings.
In its native environment, the Box-elder grows mostly in river valleys, and near lakes, on moist soils. However, it appears to be very adaptable, and also grows fairly well in dry situations. It is of little importance in European forestry, because of its brief life span and poor quality wood, but is often planted as an ornamental. Its rapid growth in youth makes it a good tree for providing quick screens in parks and gardens. Also very ornamental are the yellow and silver variegated leaved forms which are more frequently seen in gardens.
