Chinese honey locust, Soap bean tree, Soap pod, Chinese soap-pod tree, Chinese locust
Gleditsia sinensis

Family: Fabaceae

What it is like

A tree. It loses its leaves. It grows 12-30 m tall. It has large branched thorns. The leaves are yellowish-green. The leaves have leaflets along the stalks. The fruit are pods. They are purplish-brown and thick and woody. They can be 25 cm long. There are many small brown seeds. They are oblong and 11-13 mm long by 8-9 mm wide.

There are about 14 Gleditsia species. It is used in medicine. The pods are boiled and used for washing. Also as Caesalpinaceae.

Where it is found

It is a temperate plant. In China it grows in mountain slopes and in forests between 200-2,500 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 5-10. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

Countries/locations it is found in

Asia, Australia, China (country/location of origin), India, Indonesia, Korea, Mauritius, Myanmar, SE Asia

How it is used for food

The young leaves and pods are eaten. The hard, transparent material outside the cotyledons in cooked as a dessert.

It is considered a famine food.

Edible parts

Leaves, seedspod, seeds

How it is grown

Its other names

Local names

A si ni ma a hong, Pohon kendi sabun, To-Saikati, Zhaojia

Synonyms

Gleditschia horrida Willd.;