Gleditsia japonica Miq.

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Gleditsia

Characteristics

Trees or small trees, to 25 m tall. Branchlets purplish brown or grayish green when bark falls off, slightly ribbed, with scattered whitish lenticels, smooth and glabrous. Spines pur­plish brown to brownish black, slightly flat, robust, 2-15.5 cm, often branched. Leaves pinnate or bipinnate (pinnae 2-6 pairs), 11-25 cm; petiolules very short; leaflets 3-10 pairs, adaxially sometimes shiny, ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate to oblong, 2-7(-9) × 1-3(-4) cm (leaflets of bipinnate leaves obviously smaller), papery to thickly papery, abaxially puberulent on mid­vein and at base, glabrescent when old, adaxially puberulent or glabrous, slightly scabrous, reticulate veinlets obscure, base broadly cuneate or rounded, slightly oblique, margin entire or repand-crenate, apex rounded, sometimes emarginate. Flowers yellowish green, in axillary or terminal, puberulent spikes. Male inflorescence 8-20 cm; female inflorescence 5-16 cm. Male flowers: 5-6 mm in diam.; receptacle deep brown, ca. 1.5 mm, outside densely brown puberulent; sepals 3 or 4, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, both surfaces pubescent; petals 4, elliptic, ca. 2 mm, pubescent; stamens 6-8(or 9). Female flowers: 5-8(-9) mm in diam.; receptacle ca. 2 mm; sepals and petals 4 or 5, similar to those of male flowers in shape, ca. 3 mm, both surfaces densely pubescent; staminodes 4-8; ovary glabrous; ovules numerous; style short, incurved; stigma inflated, 2-lobed. Legume brown or brownish black, compressed, strap-shaped, 20-54 × 2-7 cm, irregularly twisted or falcate, apex with beak 5-15 mm; stipe 1.5-3.5(-5) cm; valves leathery, often bullate, glabrous or velutinous, shiny. Seeds numerous, deep brown, elliptic, 9-10 × 5-7 mm, smooth. 2n = 28*.
More
A deciduous tree. It grows 21 m tall. It spreads to 10 m wide. It has thorns which are branched. The fruit are pods. They can be 30 cm long. They often become twisted at maturity. The seeds are 9-10 mm long by 5-7 mm wide.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 11.0
Mature height (meter) 20.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer present
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a temperate plant. It grows on sunny slopes and near streams between 100-2,500 m above sea level in China. It suits hardiness zones 6-10.
More
Damp sandy soils. Sunny slopes, valleys, streamsides, near roads and in forests at elevations of 100-2500 metres in northeast China.
Light 7-9
Soil humidity 1-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity 3-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 5-9

Usage

The seeds roasted, and the husks removed then the seeds are soaked until soft and boiled and eaten with sugar. The leaves of the plant are also eaten. The flesh inside the seedpod is eaten.
Uses forage forestry material medicinal tanning wood
Edible leaves pods seeds
Therapeutic use Tumor (unspecified), Washing (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed. Seeds should be soaked for 24 hours before planting.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment soaking
Minimum temperature (C°) -20
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Gleditsia japonica unspecified picture

Distribution

Gleditsia japonica world distribution map, present in China, Japan, Korea (Republic of), and United States of America

Conservation status

Gleditsia japonica threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:496595-1
WFO ID wfo-0000185997
COL ID 3G73J
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Gleditsia japonica Gleditsia coccinea Caesalpiniodes japonica Gleditsia koraiensis Gleditsia japonica f. inermis Gleditsia japonica f. inarmata Gleditsia melanacantha Gleditsia coccinea f. inermis Gleditsia japonica var. japonica Gleditsia horrida var. inermis Gleditsia japonica var. koraiensis Gleditsia japonica var. inermis Gleditsia japonica var. purpurea

Lower taxons

Gleditsia japonica var. velutina Gleditsia japonica var. delavayi Gleditsia japonica var. stenocarpa