Black Locust

• Compound leaves with 7–19 oval leaflets with rounded tips
• A pair of short spines flanking each leaf node
• Fragrant white pea-like flowers hanging in clusters in May
• Deeply furrowed bark in interlacing, rope-like ridges

Native range

Native to the Appalachians and the Ozarks, and naturalized — often aggressively — across Kansas. It spreads by root suckers into pastures, fence lines, and roadsides.

Soil

Almost any well-drained soil. It fixes its own nitrogen, so it thrives on poor, eroded ground where little else establishes.

Sunlight

Full sun

Drought & heat

High drought tolerance, high heat tolerance.

Native to the Ozarks and naturalized across Kansas. Excellent as a fence-post crop or cover on eroded ground; a real problem in a pasture, where suckers spread and the foliage and seeds are toxic to livestock.

Suckers aggressively from the roots. Cutting a black locust down without treating the stump typically produces a thicket of suckers over a wide area, which is how single trees become fence-line stands.

Fair. The wood itself is very strong and famously rot-resistant, but form is often poor and borer-riddled limbs break unpredictably.

Overall storm resistance: Fair. Assessing damage after a storm

• Locust borer

  Serious

  A wasp-mimicking beetle whose larvae tunnel extensively through trunk and limbs, leaving swollen scars and sawdust. Riddled wood breaks without warning, and heavily infested trees rarely recover.

• Locust leafminer

  Cosmetic

  Turns whole crowns brown and papery by midsummer across long stretches of Kansas roadside. Dramatic and almost entirely harmless — the tree releafs the following spring.

• Toxicity to livestock

  Serious

  Bark, leaves, and seeds contain toxins dangerous to horses and cattle. Worth knowing before allowing one to grow in or beside a paddock.

Seeing something not listed here? Work from the symptom instead

Best windowDormant season — November through February

Limited value. Remove deadwood and borer-damaged limbs; the species does not respond well to attempts at reshaping.

Use caution. Thorns at the leaf nodes, aggressive suckering, and brittle borer-damaged limbs make it a poor choice close to a house — though the fragrant May flowers are genuinely worth having somewhere on a property.

• It is suckering into pasture, cropland, or a fence line — treat the stump or the problem multiplies
• Locust borer damage has hollowed major limbs above a house, drive, or play area
• It is growing in or beside a paddock: bark, leaves, and seeds are toxic to horses and livestock

Removal is a judgment call about risk, not a formula. A tree with one of these conditions over open lawn is a very different situation from the same tree over a driveway — and that judgment needs someone on site.