Thursday 1 March 2012

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 11

Robinia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, native to North America and northern Mexico. Commonly known as "locust trees", they are deciduous trees and shrubs growing 4–25 m tall. The leaves are pinnate with 7-21 oval leaflets. The flowers are white or pink, in usually pendulous racemes. Many species have thorny shoots, and several have sticky hairs on the shoots.

The genus is named after the royal French gardeners Jean Robin and his son Vespasian Robin, who introduced the plant to Europe in 1601. The number of species is disputed between different authorities, with as few as four recognised by some authors, while others recognise up to ten species. There are also several natural hybrids. Some species of Robinia are used as food by larvae of Lepidoptera, including Brown-tail, Buff-tip, The Engrailed and Giant Leopard Moth.

These introduced, exotic trees are widely planted along nature strips in many Melbourne suburbs. Their fragrant bunches of white flowers and chartreuse-coloured leaves provide a joyous announcement of the Spring season.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.






15 comments:

  1. Beautiful tree, exquisite flowers and gorgeous skies! Doesn't get any better than this, Nick!! Superb captures as always! Hope you're having a great week!

    Sylvia

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  2. One of my favourite trees! Nice shots.

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  3. Oh so this is the locust tree, typical legume morphology. This is where the locust beans came from, source of carageenan.

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  4. I have not heard of this tree. The flowers almost look like the Joshua trees.

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  5. un tres bel arbre qui sent bon le printemps

    Publicity ;o) Every Friday (and the Weekend), The Challenge "Walk In The Street Photography"

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  6. I love the colour of these trees Nick .... The lime green foliage would brighten up any street-scape.

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  7. The flower on this tree almost looks like an orchid don't you think Nick, I wonder if it smells as good as it looks.

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  8. Very pretty flowers. They look so delicate.

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  9. They truly are beautiful when they bloom!

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  10. Beautiful photos.

    Hope you can come and visit my Spiny Flowers.

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  11. Beautiful tree.

    Regards and best wishes

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  12. Lovely blossoms. I've been taking pictures of flowers and will be back to FF one of these times soon.

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  13. These look as though they would smell great! I love your photos!

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  14. O these photos are so lovely! I find that there is a wonderful variety of street trees in Melbourne + environs! They add so much character and a sense of "natural" life to the streetscape!

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  15. when the wind blows, the floers will drop? In Borneo, we used to chase the flowers.

    We are having weather bombs. I was bombed on, and my umbrella is facing the wrong way round.

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