Łódź, Botanical Garden

Native to central North America. Ornamental plant. May be invasive! Edible plant - seeds raw or cooked; the seeds have been roasted and used as a coffee substitute; seedpods, the pulp of immature pods is sweet and can be eaten raw or made into sugar; a sweet, pleasant tasting drink can be made from the seed pods. Herbal plant - the seedpods have been made into a tea for the treatment of indigestion, measles, catarrh; the juice of the pods is antiseptic; the pods have been seen as a good antidote for children's complaints; a infusion of the bark has been drunk and used as a wash in the treatment of dyspepsia, it has also been used in the treatment of whooping cough, measles, smallpox etc; the twigs and the leaves contain the alkaloids gleditschine and stenocarpine, stenocarpine has been used as a local anaesthetic whilst gleditschine causes stupor and loss of reflex activity; current research is examining the leaves as a potential source of anticancer compounds. Usable plant - the heartwood is light red to reddish brown; it is demarcated from the wide band of yellowish sapwood; texture is moderately coarse, with a straight to irregular grain; there is no characteristic odour or taste; lustre is high; the wood is very heavy, very hard, tough, strong, very shock-resistant, durable in contact with the soil, it does not shrink much in drying; the wood is not easy to work, splits rather easily and does not glue well, but finishes smoothly and takes a high polish; It is used primarily for making fence posts and rails, general construction, furniture, interior trim; the wood is an excellent fuel and can be used to make charcoal.