Tree · Fabaceae
Honeylocust
Gleditsia triacanthos
Honeylocust is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,269 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Honeylocust at a glance
- Native in
- 1,269 counties, across 39 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −36°F
- Mature height
- 70 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −36°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Honeylocust is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,269 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,269 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 47 counties
- Arkansas 74 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 9 counties
- Georgia 17 counties
- Illinois 99 counties
- Indiana 59 counties
- Iowa 19 counties
- Kansas 104 counties
- Kentucky 103 counties
- Louisiana 55 counties
- Maine 3 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 17 counties
- Minnesota 5 counties
- Mississippi 31 counties
- Missouri 114 counties
- Nebraska 13 counties
- Nevada 3 counties
- New Hampshire 3 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New York 24 counties
- North Carolina 31 counties
- North Dakota 2 counties
- Ohio 88 counties
- Oklahoma 26 counties
- Pennsylvania 46 counties
- South Carolina 25 counties
- South Dakota 5 counties
- Tennessee 38 counties
- Texas 46 counties
- Utah 11 counties
- Vermont 2 counties
- Virginia 73 counties
- West Virginia 31 counties
- Wisconsin 15 counties
- Wyoming 1 county
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
- 70 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Rounded
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 70 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.8 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 48 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −36°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Green
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Fabaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- GLTR
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 triacanthos (PLANTS symbol GLTR).
- 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