Genus of legumes
Gleditsia (honey locust) is a genus of trees in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, native to the Americas and Asia. The Latin name commemorates Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden, who died in 1786.
Species.
There are 12 species:
Hybrids
All the species are woody except for "G. microphylla". Their ability to fix nitrogen is debated; see .
Range and taxonomy.
"Gleditsia" is found in East Asia, on the East Coast of the Americas, and in South America; small populations of certain species also exist around the Caspian Sea ("G. caspica") and India ("G. assamica"). There are native species to all these regions. The theory is that "Gleditsia" originated in East Asia in the Eocene, crossed the land bridge across the North Pacific Ocean into North America, and then spread down to South America millions of years later. "Gymnocladus" is a sister genus of "Gleditsia," and it too mimicked this dispersion pattern, except it came to the Americas much earlier. Though there are no extant European "Gleditsia" species, there are fossils found in Europe which could mean that the genus also crossed the North Atlantic land bridge.
Certain "Gleditsia" species are in clades with species from other continents; an example is "G. caspica" (from the Caucusus), "G. delavayi," and "G. japonica" (both from Asia), who are in a clade together. "Gleditsia amorphoides" is the most basal of the genus, most closely related to "G. sinensis" but not the North American species ("G. aquatica" and "G. triacanthos").
Medicinal use.
"Gleditsia sinensis" is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in Chinese herbology, where it is called "zào jiá" (皂荚).
References.
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