Re: Snake Trees and other Flora

draqonfayir@juno.com writes:
>Yup, that's it.  Brutal looking things.  These thin sharp clusters of
>spikes just suddenly pop out of the main trunk, and you don't remember
>seeing them growing - just one day you get too close and notice them
>(hopefully) just in time.
Out west here in California, i have never seen one growing. So they're not
common here (they seem to be really common back east). The only thing that
could come close are the yuccas which can give you a nasty wound (needle
tipped leaves), and the Agaves which have leaves edged in stout thorns.
The only other trees I can think of that would compare or surpass the
thornyness of Honey Locusts are the many spiny palms (some have trunks
just covered in needles).
>
>> The name Honey Locust most likely comes from the sweetness of the
>> pulp
>> inside the beans.
>
>So they're edible?  Cool...
>
>I guess Snake Tree something will be my first Rokbeigalmki recipe :-) .

Well,  most of the trees in the pea family with sweet pulp within their
seed pods are used for candies (tamarind, and carob (AKA fake chocolate),
or drinks (tamarind). In the Philippines a sour soup is made from the pulp
from Tamarind seed pods.  I'm not sure about the Honey Locust, but the
reference in my plant encyclopedia didn't have any warnings about toxicity
of the seedpods, so on that, I assume they're edible.





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