Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Robinia pseudoacacia
Black locust, False acacia, Locust tree
Fabaceae
Forest, woodland, gardens, disturbed sites, and stream banks. Widespread, mostly in the Sydney area and the ACT.
Introduced tree to 17 m tall. Suckers vigorously. Many leaves with paired spiny stipules, which remain on the stems after the leaves have fallen. Bark eventually becoming deeply furrowed. Young stems hairy, becoming hairless, often with obvious lenticels. Leaves alternating up the stems, 8-15 cm long, compound, with 11-21 leaflets each 1.5-6 cm long, 10-28 mm wide, tips often notched, margins entire, surfaces sparsely hairy but becoming hairless with age. Flowers 15-20 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, white, pink, or purplish, in clusters 10-15 cm long. Flowers Spring.
Pest plant ACT.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Robinia~pseudoacacia (accessed 5 February, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application: