''Robinia hispida'', known as the bristly locust, rose-acacia, or moss locust, is a

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

in the subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

of the pea family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. It is native to the southeastern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and it is present in other areas, including other regions of North America, as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

. It is grown as an ornamental and can escape cultivation and grow in the wild.''Robinia hispida''.
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. University of Washington. 2013.

Description

This deciduous shrub grows to 3 meters tall, often with glandular, bristly ( hispid) stems. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

with up to 13 leaflets. The pink or purplish pealike flowers are borne in hanging

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

s of up to 5. The fruit is a flat pod. The variety of this species, called ''ambatch'' which is found in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, has notably low density wood, about ; about one-third the density of balsa wood ('' Ochroma lagopus'').

Ethnobotany

The

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

had several uses for the plant. They used the root medicinally for

toothache Toothaches, also known as dental pain or tooth pain,Segen JC. (2002). ''McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine''. The McGraw-Hill Companies. is pain in the teeth or their supporting structures, caused by dental diseases or referred ...

. They fed an infusion of the plant to cows as a tonic. The wood was useful for making

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

s, bows, and

blowgun A blowgun (also called a blowpipe or blow tube) is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light projectiles such as darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the force created by ...

darts, and for building houses.''Robinia hispida''.
Native American Ethnobotany. University of Michigan, Dearborn.

Subtaxa

There are at least 5 varieties: *''Robinia hispida'' var. ''fertilis'' - Arnot bristly locust (

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

) *''Robinia hispida'' var. ''hispida'' - Common bristly locust (Originally

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Southern

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

but now escaped from cultivation throughout much of eastern North America) *''Robinia hispida'' var. ''kelseyi'' - Kelsey's locust (North Carolina, sometimes considered to have arisen as a horticultural variety, sometimes considered a distinct species) *''Robinia hispida'' var. ''nana'' - Dwarf bristly locust (Found in the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

and

Coastal Plain A coastal plain (also coastal plains, coastal lowland, coastal lowlands) is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and an upland area. Formation Coastal plains can f ...

from North Carolina south to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, typically in dry, sandy soils such as those in the Sandhills region; sometimes considered a distinct species as ''R. nana'') *''Robinia hispida'' var. ''rosea'' - Boynton's locust (North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama)

References

Robinieae {{Faboideae-stub