Locust tree
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (August 2022) |
Locust tree can mean:
- Any of a number of tree species in the genera Gleditsia or Robinia, including:
- Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), a leguminous tree with pods having a sweet, edible pulp
- Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), a leguminous tree with toxic pods
- Water locust (Gleditsia aquatica), a leguminous tree with one seed per pod
- Or less commonly, "African locust bean tree" (Parkia biglobosa), which is also known as néré
- Also not commonly, the carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua, whose pods are called locust beans.
Etymology
[edit]"Locust" comes from the Latin locusta, meaning both "locust" (the insect) and "lobster". By analogy with a levantine use of the Greek word for the insect, akris, for the pods of the carob tree which supposedly resembled it, the pod-bearing North American tree was called "locust" starting in the 1630s.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ Harper, Douglas (ed.). "locust (n.2)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
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