You might know it is the black locust tree, but here in the UK it is the false Acacia because it looks like an acacia, but lacks the thorns. The leaves are very different from anything else growing here, with bright yellow-green leaves. Everything else is green-green.
This Robinia pseudoacacia is in the park just 150 yards from where we live, and because it is young, the racemes are hanging down low so I could get a good look at them. I also saw a pod from last year’s growth, which together with the flowers says that this is in the pea family.
The Robinia pseudoacacia was introduced to Britain from the New World in the 1600s, and this being a university town, and the parks originally belonging to the Colleges, I wonder who planted the bigger trees? I will have to take a look at the big specimens to see their girth, which will tell me how old they are.
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