Robinia pseudoacacia
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
black locust, false acacia
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Deciduous tree up to 25 m high. The compound pinnate leaves are 20-30 cm long, bearing 12-15 elliptic leaflets arising more or less opposite one another. Branches are scattered with sharp, stipular spines c. 1 cm long. Inflorescence is a raceme with numerous white flowers, each about 1 cm long.
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
November, December, January
Year naturalised
1870
Origin
C. and E. North America
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Seed and vegetative spread by suckering.
Other information
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
ROBPSE