''Robinia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of flowering plants in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

, tribe Robinieae, native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Commonly known as locusts, they are

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

trees and shrubs growing tall. The leaves are

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

with 7–21 oval leaflets. The flowers are white or pink, in usually pendulous

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s. Many species have thorny shoots, and several have sticky hairs on the shoots. The genus is named after the royal French gardeners Jean Robin and his son

Vespasien Robin Vespasian (9–79) was the emperor of Rome from 69 to 79. Vespasian or Vespasien is also the name of: * Vespasien Gribaldi, archbishop of Vienne (1569–1575) - see Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienne * Vespasian Pella (1897–1960), Romanian l ...

, who introduced the plant to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 1601. The number of species is disputed between different authorities, with as few as four recognised by some authors, while others recognise up to 10 species. Several natural hybrids are also known. Some species of ''Robinia'' are used as food by

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s of

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

, including such moths as the brown-tail (''

Euproctis chrysorrhoea The brown-tail moth (''Euproctis chrysorrhoea'') is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is native to Europe, neighboring countries in Asia, and the north coast of Africa. Descriptions of outbreaks, i.e., large population increases of several year ...

''), the buff-tip ('' Phalera bucephala''), the engrailed (''

Ectropis crepuscularia The engrailed and small engrailed (''Ectropis crepuscularia'') are moths of the family Geometridae found from the British Isles through central and eastern Europe to the Russian Far East and Kazakhstan. The western Mediterranean and Asia Minor ...

''), the giant leopard moth (''

Hypercompe scribonia The giant leopard moth (''Hypercompe scribonia'') is a moth of the family Erebidae. They are distributed through North America from southern Ontario, and southern and eastern United States through New England, Mexico and south to Colombia. The o ...

''), the locust underwing (''

Euparthenos nubilis __NOTOC__ ''Euparthenos'' is a monotypic moth genus in the family Erebidae erected by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1876. Its only species, ''Euparthenos nubilis'', the locust underwing, was Species description, first described by Jacob Hübner in ...

''), and

Gracillariidae Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, ''Cameraria ...

leaf miner A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, the mother clade of wasps), ...

s like '' Chrysaster ostensackenella'', '' Macrosaccus robiniella'' and '' Parectopa robiniella''.

Toxicity

All species produce toxic

lectin Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are highly specific for sugar groups that are part of other molecules, so cause agglutination of particular cells or precipitation of glycoconjugates and polysaccharides. Lectins have a role in rec ...

s, throughout the entire plant, with the exception of the flowers. The flowers are used in teas and in

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a Starch, starch-based batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or fryi ...

s, and are consumed as

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

s in many parts of Europe.

Species

*'' Robinia hispida'' – bristly locust **''Robinia hispida'' var. ''rosea'' (syn. ''R. boyntonii'') **''Robinia hispida'' var. ''nana'' (syns. ''R. elliottii'' & ''R. nana'') **''Robinia hispida'' var. ''kelseyi'' (syn. ''R. kelseyi'') *'' Robinia neomexicana'' (syn. ''R. luxurians'') – New Mexican locust *''

Robinia pseudoacacia ''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to a few small areas of the United States, ...

'' – black locust, false acacia *'' Robinia viscosa'' – clammy locust **''Robinia viscosa'' var. ''hartwegii''''R. viscosa'' var. ''hartwegii''.
ITIS. (syn. ''R. hartwegii'' or ''R. hartwigii''E. Koehne. 1913. Eine neue Robinie
/ref>) * †'' Robinia zirkelii''

Hybrids

* ''Robinia'' × ''ambigua'' (''R. pseudoacacia'' × ''R. viscosa'') – Idaho locust * ''Robinia'' × ''holdtii'' (''R. neomexicana'' × ''R. pseudoacacia'') * ''Robinia'' × ''longiloba'' (''R. hispida'' × ''R. viscosa'') * ''Robinia'' × ''margarettiae'' (''R. hispida'' × ''R. pseudoacacia'')

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q472943 Robinieae Fabaceae genera Melliferous flowers