Robinia neomexicana
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Robinia neomexicana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Robinia neomexicana var. luxurians Dieck
- Robinia luxurians (Dieck) Silva Tar. & C.K.Schneid.
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean as R. luxurians, which is placed in synonymy with R. neomexicana by Flora of North America (Lavin & Lammers 2023). Bean distinguished R. luxurians by its leaves with fewer leaflets (not more than 15 per leaf), hairy but not glandular-bristly leaves, and smaller stature (shrub to about 6 ft high).
A deciduous shrub or small tree 20 to 40 ft high, with a trunk 12 in. or more thick; branchlets downy. Leaves pinnate, 6 to 12 in. long, with downy stalks; leaflets fifteen to twenty-five, oval to slightly ovate, 1 to 13⁄4 in. long, 1⁄2 to 2⁄3 in. wide, with a bristle-like tip; stipules spiny, ultimately 1 in. long. Racemes 2 to 3 in. long, 2 in. wide, the stalk covered with brown shaggy hairs. Flowers 3⁄4 to 1 in. long, pale rose, each on a hairy stalk 1⁄4 in. long; the standard petal large, the calyx glandular, shaggy, with slender teeth. Pods 3 or 4 in. long, 1⁄3 in. wide, covered with gland-tipped bristles 1⁄8 in. or more long. Bot. Mag., t. 7726.
Native of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and S. Utah, in places at 7,000 ft above sea-level. First discovered by Dr Thurber in 1851; introduced to Kew in 1887. It flowers prettily every year in June, and frequently a second time in August. It differs from R. pseudoacacia in its bristly pods, and from R. viscosa in the young twigs not being viscid. The larger of two examples at Kew measures 50 × 6 ft (1968).
From the Supplement (Vol. V)
The specimen at Kew, probably from the original introduction of 1887, measures 70 × 51⁄4 ft (1981). In the University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, pl. 1958, it is 48 × 33⁄4 ft (1982).