There Are Witches In The Air

There are witches in the air! 

Okay, okay, halt the presses or as we used to say growing up in the 70's, hold the phone. I have known several witches over my years and never have they once mentioned flying on anything but an airplane. I knew a person who used to live right here in Vernon who was at the time exploring Witchery, studied very hard and eventually was accepted into an intensive program to become a Witch. They had nothing in common with the storybook or Halloween characters of our childhood. In reality, the Witches that I have known are attractive, intelligent, and caring individuals. I mean no offense to them with my writings here as I refer to the spooky October, candy seeking, holiday variety and of course trees. 

When I finally (sort of) got on track to study my chosen field in the College of Natural Resources, by attempting to slip in the back door through the College of Agriculture; and right before I found myself in the College of Education, I enrolled in Dendrology which as it turned out was entirely in Latin. It wasn't long before I made the enlightened decision to transfer to a less rigorous tree identification course that paired scientific tree names with English. It was through this process that I discovered that often times in life, there are things that we are told that we must know but soon forget; and there are things that we come into unintentionally but gives us a lifetime of enjoyment. 

Robinia Pseduoacacia, Black Locust, Witch's Tree, two out of the three I didn't have to look up and double (okay triple) check the spelling. To my defense, spell check still thinks that I have it wrong. Let's put this into dog lover's terms. When I was a kid there was a dog breed named Brittany Spaniel. To many a dog lover's dismay, in the 80's Spaniel was dropped from their name because in reality, the Brittany isn't a spaniel at all. Don't even get me started on Fisher Cat versus Fisher! 

The language of science is important because it keeps things straight where common names sometimes have little to do with the actual tree, dog or weasel. I know, I know, Brittany is hardly Latin and a lot of scientific discoveries are named by those that found them or where they are found. It's never as clear cut as we would like; but dang it, Pluto (for my generation) is still a planet! Believe me or not, there are specialists whose job it is to keep track of these things and correct what belongs with what and what they should be called. I don't think that "Witch's Tree" would make the cut. 

There we were, a small group of students in the urban setting of Burlington, notepads and pencils in hand hanging on the words of our professor, "The branches in the crown are bent and twisted like a Witch..." and so it remains still, that Black Locust and Witch's Tree are welded together in my mind. 

The bark is gray to dark brown with deep, irregular and intersecting grooves. Witch's Tree has sharp pointed thorns on it's branches, it's seeds are in a pod and are dark orange to brown in color with an irregular pattern.  With the exception of  its seedpods and flowers, it's entirely poisonous to animals and humans (but not used in potions).  The Black Locust's leaves are  compound, alternate, and have up to twenty oval leaflets. Leaves typically drop by the end of October creating a spooky silhouette against the bright moon for trick-or-treaters. In the landscape, the tree trunk is thick, straight, dark and tall with a crown made up of contorted branches that quickly regenerate if damaged. It can grow even on the poorest sites. It is monoecious / hermaphrodite; but doesn't solely depend on pollination to propagate. Saplings grow up from the roots of other trees resulting in thick groves if left unchecked. Though native to the US it is considered to be invasive in VT. This Locust is typically riddled with conk and  pests that leave them a bit unsightly and weakened, but not dead. It's best to wear (fast?) sturdy shoes in the presence of the Black Locust.

Like in all good children's stories, even the Witch has redeeming qualities and it is no different for the Black Locust. When we lived in the south we were taken with a local tree called Musclewood. Musclewood, not to be confused with Ironwood (Hophornbeam); but is also known as Blue-beech, American Hornbeam or Carpinus Caroliniana was well regarded for it's small size, aesthetic value and dense wood. Everyone seemed to have planted one behind their wrought iron fences and pointed to them with some measure of pride. Though a favored tree, Musclewood has comparatively fewer practical uses than the Black Locust.

Here's the thing, while Musclewood's Janka reading is 1860, Black Locust comes in at a respectable 1700; but unlike Musclewood, it has a thick, tall, straight and rot resistant trunk. This came to be of big importance in colonial times and in the war of 1812. American Colonists were introduced to Black Locust by Indigenous people who used it's wood to make their bows and tools. It is thought that the tree was first introduced outside of its native range by Indigenous people who cultivated the locust for these purposes; but it has since naturalized throughout the US. Colonists built their homes on top of locust posts because they were rot resistant and strong. They also used the tree for fence posts for the same reasons.  Our ships that patrolled Lake Champlain in 1814 had nails and masts made from Black Locust. The Locust nails were not only stronger than the British oak nails, but the locust nails expanded when wet, making our ships watertight. The British ships fell apart when hit with cannon balls while ours withstood the impact. 

Black Locust is used for railroad ties, flooring, furniture and veneer. It is happy on all kinds of sites, it is a nitrogen fixer, grows quickly and prevents soil erosion. But in my estimation, the best thing about this good Witch Tree, is that its blossoms are sweetly fragrant, adored by bees and infinitely more showy than the American Hornbeam's or oak's. 

So as the end of October nears, keep in mind that not all Witches will be knocking at your door in search of tricks or treats. Many Witches will be reaching up all over Vernon into the frosty night air, waiting to be identified by you and me -Norma Manning

Resources:

Yale Nature Walk, Black Locust

Black Locust: The Tree on Which The US Was Built, Live Science

Sacred Tree Profile: Black Locust, The Druid's Garden

Locust Trees, OK Gardening Classics

Black Locust, The Middlebury Landscape