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Gleditsia aquatica; photograph (c) Kevin Anderson, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Kevin Anderson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-02-14

Gleditsia aquatica Marshall

Water locust; Swamp-locust; Water honeylocust

Fabaceae · Illinois, Missouri +14

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Gleditsia aquatica, photograph (c) i like lizards, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gleditsia aquatica, photograph (c) i like lizards, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gleditsia aquatica, photograph (c) i like lizards, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gleditsia aquatica, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGleditsia aquatica, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGleditsia aquatica, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 89 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-5.8°C
Record low -20.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,354mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Gleditsia aquatica, commonly called water locust or swamp locust after its habitat of river swamps and slough margins, is a tree native to the Southeastern United States and adjacent regions.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Gleditsia aquatica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Gleditsia

Gleditsia is a genus of trees in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, native to the Americas and Asia. The Latin name commemorates Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden, who died in 1786.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Gleditsia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (914 mm of 1,291 mm) takes 8 months, March to July and October to December. Mean temperature moves 19.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to January and April to June.

Rain

1,291 mm in the median year at the habitat, 914 mm of it March to July and October to December. Wettest month May at 128 mm, driest month August at 86 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,203 mm to 1,453 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,354 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,291 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -5.8 °C, the absolute minimum -20.4 °C, 1,537 frost nights in 44 years, 34.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 4.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -1.1 °C to 11.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.1 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -5.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -11 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Gleditsia aquatica through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 4.2 °C; 1,291 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-40°-20°0°20°40°60°frost40.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-20.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 16–40RH 56–59%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 229 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 8–2116 / 10–2220 / 16–2524 / 21–2728 / 26–3031 / 30–3232 / 31–3332 / 31–3429 / 28–3125 / 22–2819 / 15–2514 / 9–22
Night °C4 / -1–126 / 1–1310 / 5–1514 / 11–1718 / 16–2122 / 20–2424 / 23–2424 / 22–2521 / 18–2315 / 12–2010 / 7–166 / 1–13
Rain mm98 / 61–126101 / 69–132113 / 89–132107 / 64–132128 / 71–142118 / 94–213108 / 92–20686 / 68–21592 / 76–182107 / 78–131117 / 53–131116 / 62–147
DLI18 / 16–2222 / 20–2729 / 27–3336 / 35–4039 / 38–4240 / 38–4240 / 38–4237 / 35–3932 / 30–3325 / 24–2819 / 16–2316 / 13–20
RH %58 / 57–5957 / 56–5956 / 55–5956 / 54–5958 / 57–6159 / 57–6359 / 57–6358 / 56–6457 / 56–6457 / 55–6058 / 57–5958 / 58–59
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 229 grid cells holding the 389 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1151:1759 (32.425, -92.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -20.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -5.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 229 distinct grid cells holding 389 of the 389 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1151:1759 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.50_-91.875, lapse-corrected -11 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 19 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeIllinois, Missouri, Indiana, New York, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mexico Northeast · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker28.181, -82.158 · in the densest population, 378 records (65% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 579 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 389 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 232 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 198 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 190 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 579 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Gleditsia aquatica, photograph 1did not loadGleditsia aquatica, photograph 2did not loadGleditsia aquatica, photograph 3did not loadGleditsia aquatica, photograph 4did not loadGleditsia aquatica, photograph 5did not loadGleditsia aquatica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) i like lizards, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Rhynchospora corniculata Rhynchospora corniculata Short-bristle hornedrush Photo: CC BY, Ryan SorrellsBoltonia diffusa Boltonia diffusa Smallhead doll's daisy Photo: CC0, author not statedPlanera aquatica Planera aquatica Water-elm Photo: CC BY, sblumenEuthamia leptocephala Euthamia leptocephala Bushy Goldentop Photo: CC BY, hr_dragonflyCarex cherokeensis Carex cherokeensis Cherokee sedge Photo: CC0, author not statedPhysalis angulata Physalis angulata Cut-leaf ground-cherry Photo: CC BY, Tanner Shepard

Other Gleditsia 8 in the reference

Gleditsia amorphoides Gleditsia amorphoides Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Laura Veronica BianchiGleditsia australis Gleditsia australis Fabaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGleditsia caspica Gleditsia caspica Caspian locust Photo: CC BY, portioidGleditsia fera Gleditsia fera Fabaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGleditsia japonica Gleditsia japonica East Asian honey locust Photo: CC BY, Eine süße KatzeGleditsia rolfei Gleditsia rolfei Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng ZengGleditsia sinensis Gleditsia sinensis Chinese honey-locust Photo: CC BY, Marco MussitaGleditsia triacanthos Gleditsia triacanthos Honey locust Photo: CC BY, Lisa Bennett

Names & registers

Also known as Asacara aquatica; Caesalpiniodes monospermum; Caesalpinoides monospermum; Gleditschia aquatica; Gleditschia carolinensis and 11 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Marshall
Native to
Illinois, Missouri, Indiana +13
Wild records
579 in range · 232 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 18 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (17 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.50_-91.875, lapse-corrected -11 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Gleditsia aquatica Marshall (the item's: IPNI 110716-2, POWO 496572-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 45 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…