Robinia neomexicana seed

LATIN NAME: Robinia neomexicana

COMMON NAME: New Mexican Locust

The New Mexican locust is a handsome, upright, open, deciduous shrub or small tree of the warm, dry places, and its fine, pinnate leaves of the many oval leaflets and its fine, dense, hanging clusters of the small, pink or rose-purple, fragrant, pea-like flowers, followed by the flat, brown pods, have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as an upright, open, deciduous shrub or small tree, reaching up to eight metres or more, with the upright, branching stems bearing the alternate, pinnate leaves of the many oval, pointed leaflets and, through the late spring, the fine, dense, hanging clusters of the small, pink or rose-purple, fragrant, pea-like flowers, followed by the flat, brown pods of the few hard seeds. It is a species of the flowering plant in the pea family, and it is native to the warm, dry places of the south-western North America, while it is treasured for its fine, pink, fragrant flowers and its fine, tough form, and it is known as the New Mexican locust.

In the pea family it is the pink-flowered, nitrogen-fixing locust of the dry south-west, a tree that feeds the ground as it feeds the bees.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The New Mexican locust holds a recognised place in the soil-ecology papers of the pea trees, and the partnership between its roots and the soil bacteria that draws the nitrogen from the air has kept the ecologists interested for years. The botanists have mapped its place in the pea family and the dry flora of the south-west, and the insect ecologists have watched the bees come to the dense, hanging clusters of the pink, fragrant flowers. It is a tree of the tough, hard-working kind, and the growers of the dry garden and the bank keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the dry garden, the New Mexican locust is the pink-flowered tree that feeds the ground. Its hanging clusters of the fragrant flowers feed the bees, its flat pods feed the birds, and the open, tough growth holds the bank and shelters the small creatures. It is treasured for the dense, fragrant, pink flower clusters and the easy ways in the warm, dry, well-drained ground. Pink-flowered, fragrant and soil-building.

These seeds wear a hard, glossy coat — pour a cup of just-boiled water over them and let it cool overnight, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of sandy, free-draining soil, keep the pots in a warm, bright spot and water them regularly, and they’ll be up within no time.