Tree · Fabaceae
Water locust
Gleditsia aquatica
Water locust is recorded as native to 12 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 188 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Water locust at a glance
- Native in
- 188 counties, across 12 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10a PLANTS minimum temperature 27°F
- Mature height
- 40 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Moisture use not recorded
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 10a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 27°F; zone 10a winters bottom out at 30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Water locust is recorded as native to 12 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 188 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 188 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 40 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Not recorded
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 68 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Not recorded
- Minimum root depth
- 36 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 27°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 207
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- Slight
- Nitrogen fixation
- Low
- Nursery availability
- Not recorded
- Family
- Fabaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- GLAQ
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Gleditsia aquatica (PLANTS symbol GLAQ).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources