Gleditsia japonica

Japanese honey locust is in the pea or Fabaceae family and is native to Japan. It also is called Gleditsia horrida because of its thorns up to 25 cm long. It grows up to 25 m tall.

• Leaves are alternate, pinnately (and sometimes bipinnately) compound, petioles very short. Leaflets have 3—10 pairs. New leaves and flowers sprout in groups from spurs on stems.
• Flowers are monoecious (male and female), in drooping clusters.
• Twigs are zigzag , lateral buds often hidden under the bark; long thorns, purplish brown to brownish black, single or branched into several points, commonly form in dense clusters.
• Fruit is a flat twisted pod 15 to 40 cm in length, one per stalk.