At the beginning of the second lockdown I started walking different routes to explore my local neighborhood further. On one of these investigations, I came across a large tree that I didn’t recognise. I was intrigued as seed pods had remained on the branches throughout winter. I suspected that it was from the legume (Fabaceae) family and determined to eventually discover what tree it was.
Every so often I would check on its development, then about a month ago leaves began to appear but it was only in last week that the mystery was finally solved. On route to the allotment I noticed that beautiful scented flowers were hanging from the tree and the sound of lots of bees buzzing all over it was incredible. Finally I could identify it as a False acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), a large hardwood tree which at full height can reach 25 meters.
Named by Carl Linnaeus, Robinia was in honour of two Royal gardeners to Henry IV of France; Jean Robin (1550-1662) who was also a botanist, along with his son Vespasien Robin (1579-1662). Pseudoacacia was given to the tree because of the similarity of the leaves and spines (thorny growth on the shoots and young branches) to those of an Acacia; Pseudoacacia literally translates as False acacia.
The lime green pinnate leaves (containing 3-11 pairs of leaflets) will turn yellow in autumn, so the tree has interest later in the year too.
However that is where the similarity stops as Acacias are part of the Mimosa (Mimosoideae) family. In fact this tree, as I suspected, is from the legumes (Fabaceae) family. The flowers and seed pods resemble those of peas and beans plus the roots have nitrogen fixing nodules. In some countries, like South Africa and Australia, suckering roots can lead it to become invasive.
The scent coming from the flowers was similar to orange blossom and very obvious from a distance as I walked towards it. The White Flowers, with a hint of yellow at the base hang down in groups (racemes) and appear in May and June.
Bee in the Moment 