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Making It Grow: Shademaster Honey Locust Trees

Shademaster Honey Locust
USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area

  Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Since we southerners are so interested in family names, let’s examine the history of the name for SHADEMASTER honey LOCUST Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis 'Shademaster' . The genus name, Gleditsia, honors the German botanist of the 18th century named Gottlieb Gleditsch. Now the fun begins – triacanthos means “three spines” referring to the spines that grow out of the trunks of most honeylocust trees. Variety means a subspecies that originated in nature and the seedlings of which are usually true to type – are like the parent..  Inermis means “unarmed” and clues us in on the fact that this variety of honeylocust does not have those dreadful looking and dangerous spines that make it dangerous to plant around children. Shademaster is the name that was given to this particular honeylocust as it provides what is described as soft, dappled shade that allows turfgrass to grow underneath it.

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.